Packaging innovations: Aldi wine bottles flatten out, Baileys bottles lighten up

Companies constantly innovate with technology and redesign their packaging to get better performance, improve marketability and enhance sustainability. Here’s a look at five recent packaging product launches or redesigns on Packaging Dive’s radar.

Flattening out

Grocery chain Aldi launched in the U.K. its own-brand, “flat,” 100% recycled PET wine bottles. At 63 grams, the bottles are nearly seven times lighter and stronger than a glass bottle, while also being shatterproof, the company said in a news release. Aldi enlisted bottle maker Packamama to create the new wine bottles.

A conventional round wine bottle next to a Packamama flat wine bottle. — Retrieved from Packamama on March 22, 2024

Compared with traditional round bottles, the design of this flat-front-and-back version allows 30% more product to be loaded on pallets for transport to stores, according to Aldi. Plus, the design makes for easier stacking on store shelves and in consumers’ homes. The flat bottles initially will be used for shiraz and chardonnay wines.

In addition to launching the new flat bottles, which Aldi calls a first for U.K. supermarkets, the company is in the process of reducing the average bottle weight of all its wine products by 8%. The transition should be completed by 2025.

On a lighter note

Bottles of Baileys irish cream alcoholic beverage in aluminum bottles on a manufacturing line. — Retrieved from Diageo on March 22, 2024

Beverage company Diageo confirmed on LinkedIn that it is trialing aluminum bottles for its Baileys alcoholic beverages, which are typically sold in glass bottles. The aluminum bottles will be five times lighter than glass versions and will result in a 44% reduction in carbon emissions, according to the company. Like the glass bottles, the aluminum bottles are marketed as recyclable.

Travel retailer Heinemann reports that it currently is the exclusive seller of these aluminum Baileys bottles online, prior to a broader planned rollout to aiports and supermarkets in Europe. Diageo said that during the trial period, 30,000 of the new bottles will be available to purchase at duty-free stores in select European airports.

Strap in

Close-up view of fiber-based zip ties for bundling or securing items. — Retrieved from Atlantic Packaging on March 22, 2024

North Carolina-based Atlantic Packaging is working with Sweden-based ELVR International to exclusively introduce the latter’s FibreStrap to North America. They call it the world’s first fiber-based zip tie, which is intended to replace conventional plastic cable ties for bundling, securing or attaching items.

The patented ties can handle weight up to 26.5 pounds. Switching from plastic zip ties to FibreStrap reduces water consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80%, according to Atlantic Packaging, and they can be recycled when attached to other paper products.

“We are always on the lookout for innovative products and materials that allow us to help our customers transition to more sustainable packaging practices,” Wes Carter, president of Atlantic Packaging, said in a news release. “We have existing customers who use a lot of cable ties, and we know that they are already interested.”

Atlantic Packaging expects to begin shipping the product by the beginning of the third quarter this year.

That’s a stretch

Two rolls of stretchable, fiber-based pallet wrap, one in white and one in natural kraft. — Courtesy of Seaman Paper

Paper and packaging company Seaman Paper launched SeaStretch, a patented, paper-based pallet wrap that is an alternative to plastic stretch film. The lightweight crepe paper product is stretchable and resists tearing. It’s compatible with existing hand-wrapping, semi-automated and automated pallet wrapping machines, according to Seaman Paper, and is recyclable and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

SeaStretch is available in two colors: natural kraft and white. It comes in various roll sizes and weights for different applications.

A different mold

People holding coffee cups with natural-colored, fiber-based lids. — Courtesy of PulPac

Swedish companies PulPac and OrganoClick worked together to develop what they call a “100% biobased and biodegradable dry-molded” coffee cup lid. The partners combined PulPac’s dry molded fiber expertise with OrganoClick’s biobased and biodegradable binders, which are partly made with material from food industry waste streams. Manufacturing this plastic-free, fiber-based product uses less energy and water than for competing products, and it has a carbon footprint up to 80% lower, the businesses said in a news release.

“The work PulPac is doing ties very well into OrganoClick’s strategy to replace hidden plastic and supporting our customers green transition in the near time by providing the product with a green inside,” OrganoClick CEO Mårten Hellberg said in the release.