X-LITE™ Still is Sidel’s latest 500 ml PET packaging solution for non-pressurised still water. Thanks to its extremely light industrial bottle design, Sidel describes it as the most cost-effective and sustainable packaging available on the market, addressing the still water market for small size PET bottles, in particular, producers looking to optimise their packaging and their production costs.
With 6.5 g of weight and a height of 195 mm, Sidel X-LITE Still is described as the lightest 500 ml PET bottle in the world for non-pressurised still water, offering the greatest level of performance – even at very high production speeds with a very light water neck finish. This bottle is complemented by a Novembal Novaqua RightCAP26 closure.
High packaging performance for non-pressurised still water
Sidel X-LITE Still integrates the StarLITE™ Still base solution, already implemented worldwide due to its increased stability and stress resistance through the value chain, its design flexibility and the clear lightweighting possibilities it offers. Moreover, the energy savings enabled by StarLITE Still – mainly achieved through a reduction in blowing pressure and heating power – are significant, with no compromises on the packaging performances. This base design can be adapted to all Sidel blowing platforms and applied to existing production lines to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
X-LITE Still has been optimised by the company’s engineers for the Sidel Super Combi, the single smart solution integrating five process steps: preform feeding, blowing, labelling, filling/capping and cap feeding. “Based on a dedicated preform design for optimal mechanical performances, this latest addition to our packaging portfolio is able to withstand label application on the empty bottle, in spite of its extremely light weight. It allows for the ideal bottle shape design for nested packs and enables an optimum top load resistance of 34 kg, able to match the supply chain requirements in terms of pallet stability”, explains Laurent Naveau, Sidel Packaging Expert.
Cost-effective and sustainable
As the lightest bottle in the world for still water, Sidel X-LITE Still dramatically reduces the consumption of PET resin: for example, when compared to bottles weighing 12 g, the new solution can save 1,485 tonnes of PET per year while generating energy savings of up to 335,000 kWh/year. Combined, these reductions amount to 3,000 tonnes of CO2 saved, which equals 25 round trips between New York and Paris by plane with 200 passengers on board. For bottled water producers, this means that the cumulated savings of PET resin and energy can reach up to two million Euros per year.
“For our customers, the new preform design and neck finish featured by the X-LITE Still packaging solution translate to a very fast payback on their investment, even when the line retrofit includes a completely new injection stack”, says Laurent Naveau. “By switching from a 12 g PET bottle to the X-LITE Still 6.5 g bottle, the payback time for a line upgrade would only be between two to four months.”
