Packaging company Nampak Plastics (Newport Pagnell / UK; www.eu.nampak.com) has received a major international award for its “Infini” HDPE milk bottle. The plastic bottle was recognised as one of the most significant new products in the beverages category of the “WorldStar” awards, organised by the World Packaging Organisation (www.worldpackaging.org), which recognise the best packaging achievements from around the globe, over the last 12 months. According to Nampak, the company has created the world’s lightest ever four-pint HDPE bottle, weighing in at just 32g. The bottle – which is currently undergoing trials with a number of Nampak’s customers – represents a 20% material saving on the standard four-pint version found in most supermarkets today, Nampak claimed. Estimates from the UK packaging specialist also reveal that a move towards the 32g bottle could herald significant environmental improvements for the wider milk sector.

The Infini bottle, which is stocked in a number of major retailers including Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, is already the lightest and strongest bottle on the market, but further innovation from Nampak’s design and engineering team meant that new achievements were possible. This is due to Infini’s unique design characteristics and its ability to be light-weighted easily, Namapk said. If the company was to move its entire annual output of 2 bn bottles to the new lighter Infini, 15,000 t of resin would be saved each year. But more importantly, if lighter Infini was to become the bottle of choice, it would reduce the overall amount of resin used in UK milk packaging by 30,000 t – a 25% saving.

Twenty five judges reviewed over 300 entries from 33 countries in order to find the winners, all of which will receive their trophies at an event in Sydney / Australia, in May 2013. Eric Collins, managing director of Nampak Plastics, said: “We’re delighted that, after several honours on a national level, the Infini bottle has now been recognised on a global scale.”

The Infini bottle – which was described in detail in an exclusive interview with Nampak business development director James Crick in Plasteurope.com in February 2012 (see Plasteurope.com of 16.02.2012) – contains 15% recycled HDPE and, depending on size, reduces the weight of a standard milk bottle by 25%, bringing savings of 16,000 t of material and 34,000 t of carbon each year.

In 2012, the Infini also won at the UK’s dairy innovation awards (best dairy packaging innovation), organised by FoodBev Media (www.foodbevawards.com) and at the environmental excellence awards run by the Chartered Institute of Waste Management’s (www.ciwm.co.uk) sustainable product development of the year.