Specialist Czech packaging manufacturer Petainer’s (Aš; www.petainer.com) PET beer keg has won the Czech packaging award “Obal Roku 2011” (www.obalroku.cz). The fully recyclable container received a commendation in the event’s “Transport and Packaging Technology” category and was also shortlisted for another special prize, to be awarded at a Packaging Gala evening held in Prague on 23 November 2011.

Company CEO Nigel Pritchard welcomed the commendation, saying that “the Petainer Keg offers a significant breakthrough in the sales and marketing of volume beer.” Available in 15, 20, 30 and 40 litre sizes, the PET keg not only offers low material usage compared to traditional metal kegs, it also has a lightweight construction which allows up to 30% more liquid to be transported on a single vehicle. In addition, the kegs can be supplied either complete and ready for filling or as preforms – see also Plasteurope.com of 09.03.2011.

The global beer in PET market continues to grow and diversify. Following in the Czech group’s footsteps, APPE (Wrexham / UK; www.appepackaging.com) in mid-August introduced new four litre PET kegs for both Heineken and Amstell beer in The Netherlands – see Plasteurope.com of 17.08.2011. According to a recent multi-client study by market researcher Pira International (Leatherhead, Surrey / UK; www.pira-international.com), the global PET beer bottle market is expected to reach 7.7 bn bottles in 2015 – see Plasteurope.com of 27.05.2011.