Graham Packaging reveals multi-layer PET jar

Jane Ellis, packagingnews.co.uk, 21 February 2008

Graham Packaging has introduced what it claims is the first clear PET multi-layer plastic jar with a wide-mouth finish and barrier properties suitable for hot-fill foods such as pasta sauces, salsas and fruits.

The US plastic packaging firm said the five-layer jar could be designed in round, square, rectangular and special shapes, with wide-mouth finishes up to 82mm.

The jar can provide a shelf-life of up to 18 months and be hot-filled at temperatures from 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dry-packed or cold-processed products that are oxygen sensitive can also be protected, the firm said.

Graham Packaging's vice president and business manager for food packaging, Paul Bailie, said the jars had been produced using a combination of its SurShot multilayer technology and jar blow-moulding.

"The marriage of these two technologies yields long shelf-life and good aesthetics at an affordable cost," he said.

Bailie said the market potential of the multilayer jar was driven by consumer demand for clear, lightweight, non-breakable packaging and by the opportunity to cut manufacturing and distribution costs.

The firm claimed the PET jar would weigh 87% less than glass on an order of 50 million jars a year.

Graham Packaging said the jar contained post-consumer and post-industrial recycled materials and the oxygen barrier could be separated from the PET in the recycling process.

PET Containers Recycling Europe (PETcore) endorsed the recyclability of Graham's SurShot multi-layer technology in 2007, as Graham was able to show that its SurBond system enabled an EVOH barrier to be almost completely removed during recycling.

The multi-layer jar material has two barrier layers and three layers of PET.

 

The material was not endorsed for sheet applications because of a possibility of haze, PETcore added.

Graham Packaging is based in Pennsylvania and produces more than 20 billion blow-moulded plastic containers for food and beverage, household, personal care and automotive products.

The firm had sales of $2.5bn (£1.3bn) in 2006.