Graham Packaging launches PET carafe
orange juice to store shelves in a new wide-mouth 1.75-litre PET
carafe designed and manufactured by Graham Packaging Company -
packaging believed to be the first of its kind.
In the US, Tropicana Products has begun shipping its Pure Premium orange juice to store shelves in a new wide-mouth 1.75-litre PET carafe designed and manufactured by Graham Packaging Company - packaging believed to be the first of its kind.
"This is the first true carafe in PET," according to John Denner, Graham Packaging's director of PET packaging development. "It has a 63-millimetre wide-mouth opening, which makes it easy to pour, and thanks to a patent- pending design, it looks like a glass carafe - upscale, elegantly shaped and it really shows off the juice. It has all the other advantages of plastic as well: a no-drip finish, easy to grip and handle, and, of course, it's much lighter than glass, and it won't break."
The carafe is the first commercial PET container with a blown finish with screw-on threads suitable for cold filling - but it can be used for hot-fill applications as well. It is also stackable - the cap of one bottle fits into the base of the bottle on top. Besides superior top-load strength, it said to have superior side-dent resistance. The blow-moulded PET carafe is also significantly lighter than a similar package made with conventional injection- finish technology.
Graham Packaging also makes 96-ounce and 128-ounce multi-layer high- density polyethylene jugs and a 16-ounce PET bottle for Tropicana juices, a 1.75-litre PET bottle for Tropicana Twister, and an 11.5-ounce multi-layer polypropylene bottle for Tropicana Smoothies.
Tropicana Products, a division of PepsiCo, is the world's leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices. Based in Bradenton, Florida, Tropicana markets its products in the US.
Graham Packaging, based in Pennsylvania, US, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of customised blow-moulded plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household and personal care, and automotive lubricants markets. The company employs approximately 3,900 people at 55 plants throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America. It produced more than nine billion units and had total worldwide net sales of $906.7 million (€850m) in 2002.
