Yotvata commissioned a second Sidel aseptic complete PET line in an effort to upgrade its two-litre ESL milk bottle from HDPE to PET
Image: The Yotvata Dairy’s new 2-litre PET milk bottle. Photo: courtesy of Sidel.
Yotvata Dairy, a liquid dairy manufacturer and a unit of Strauss Group, has partnered with Sidel to launch a new two-litre Extended Shelf Life (ESL) PET bottle for its white milk in Israel.
The launch follows the upgrade of its two-litre ESL milk bottle from HDPE to PET by investing in a second Sidel aseptic complete PET line, at its facility to meet the increased demand for its wide range of milk-based products.
Yotvata COO Achiraz Horesh said: “We already had a very positive experience with the Sidel Aseptic Combi Predis technology for PET production on the first line we purchased from them in 2014.
“This new packaging line will allow us to increase the production capacity on existing products while reducing our environmental footprint, mainly due to the switch from HDPE to PET and the bottle lightweighting potential offered by Sidel’s integrated dry preform decontamination system.”
Yotvata Dairy intends to use PET as its preferred packaging material
The move is a part of Yotvata Dairy’s effort to use PET as its preferred packaging material unlike the majority of dairy firms which bottle their products in HDPE and carton and contribute to a distinctive brand position in the market.
Yotvata CEO Ram Srugo said: “We need to break the visual codes in comparison with the past and with our competition, as all local dairy producers – including us – were used to pack milk in 2-litre squared bottles in HDPE with a handle.
“Additionally, we want to ensure a great brand experience for our consumers and maximise opportunities for the bottles to be easily taken from supermarket shelves,”
The new bottle is designed to offer tightness in the gripping area to avoid potential splashing effect for consumers when pouring the product in a container.
In addition to counterbalancing the vacuum effect, which could impact products distributed via cold-chain, the new 100% recyclable bottle offers significant environmental advantages compared to HDPE.
The new bottle also addresses the challenges placed by the big size format for producers, while enhancing users’ convenience.
Designed to produce 1L bottles as well as the newly designed two-liter PET bottle for milk, the new PET complete line for Yotvata Dairy features Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis, which is complemented by Capdis, combining preform and cap sterilisation, blowing and sealing functions in a single enclosure for a 100%-sterile filled and capped PET bottle.
Sidel Southern Europe sales manager Andrea Tondelli said: “Yotvata leveraged the entire set of our competences, from packaging design and industrialisation through leadership in aseptic technologies up to our longstanding expertise in complete lines.
“The Sidel Aseptic Combi Predis delivers utmost hygiene, high ease of operations and flexibility needed to match this customer’s needs, considering the various products they’ll process through the line.”
Earlier this year, Sidel has purchased Cognac Moules Emballages Plastiques (COMEP), a France-based producer and designer of moulds for PET, for an undisclosed amount.