Nine drink flavors, marketed under the Everfresh brand in Canada and Fairlee
in the U.S., recently switched from glass bottles to PET, a move that already
has paid off with new sales to convenience stores, cafeterias and vending-machine
operators. Many of those clients were reluctant to stock glass containers, says
Gary Krupa, marketing director. Lighter-weight PET bottles also have reduced
U.S. distribution costs by 10 percent.
Krupa worked with Crown Cork & Seal Co.’s Constar division to find
packaging for a hot-filled product, made without preservatives, with a 12-month
shelf life. Alfresh uses a three-layer, 16-oz. bottle with Constar’s Oxbar
sandwiched between an inner and outer layer of polyethylene terephthalate. Oxbar
is a nylon and cobalt catalyst salt that scavenges oxygen. The container is
topped by a 43-mm polypropylene cap with a thermoplastic elastomer liner to
maintain the hermetic seal.