Nampak Introduces Environment Friendly Infini

01 March 2011

Nampak Plastics has introduced an environment friendly innovative design, Infini, with the key objective to reduce the weight of materials used in the production of milk bottles. The new bottle has been specifically designed to be lightweighted and has significant benefits over the standard bottle design. In particular, it offers an average 15% weight saving across the range with specific bottle sizes achieving savings as high as 21%.

The ultra-lightweight Infini bottle is the product of an exclusive Nampak-led initiative, and was developed by the innovation team at Nampak. The company reportedly spent £1 million on the development of the design and required a further investment plan worth £9 million for implementing the bottle range.

The new design achieves its purpose of consuming less material during production without affecting the bottle's integrity and its requirement to be sturdy, by not forcing the material as far into each of the bottle's corners. In reducing the distance to the corners of the bottle, there is a considerable reduction in the weight of the material required.

The bottle's innovative design has been selected as the optimum solution to the light weighting challenge and its launch is part of the leading UK plastic milk bottle manufacturer's drive to reduce its own carbon footprint.

Further, the HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Infini bottle is fully recyclable and the plan is to increase the current 10% of recycled material content to 50% by 2020.

James Crick, Business Development Director Nampak commented: "Our customers have consistently asked for lighter weight bottles that will not only run down their existing lines but will also help them further to achieve the Government and industry targets such as Courtauld Commitment 2 and the current Milk Roadmap. Until now light weighting has been achieved by simply using less material in making the standard design bottle, but there is a limit to how thin the walls can be and still be fit for purpose. What Nampak has done is to go back to first principles and change the design of the bottle so it requires less material to manufacture. This means Infini gives our customers and the retailers a real opportunity to respond to environmental impact pressures and also contributes to cost reduction opportunities in terms of the manufacture of the bottle."

.Infini is already generating a very positive buzz in the market with the design already put to trial by a number of Nampak's major customers and also by customer test panels including families.

Krishna Buddhiraju