Interview
PET POWER: Miguel Angel Arto, Novapet
In this, the second in a series of six interviews, Miguel Angel Arto from Novapet answers questions about the increasing global demand for PET containers.
PET packaging will always be necessary to deliver water to consumers
Why is PET the best choice for packaging water?
Miguel Angel Arto: Nobody can deny that PET is the material of choice for packaging water. It continues to remain clear despite concerns about health and sustainability matters, along with the economical downturn and its effect on consumers’ habits. It’s true that the high growth rates of the past are no longer being seen, but it’s almost unthinkable to think about daily life without the presence of water bottled in PET. For example, when shopping in supermarkets, eating out in bars and restaurants, drinking in the workplace or on-the-go during a busy day, as well as in emergency situations.
Concerns about health, sustainability and the economical downturn have been very important drivers to justify only using tap water, lightweighting bottles, recycling and so on – all of them designed to minimise the use of non-renewable energies, carbon emissions and waste. However, PET packaging will always be necessary to deliver water to consumers. The increasing growth rates of water consumption by consumers is still compensating for the negative factors, giving slight net growth rate figures.
Is there a high level of demand for PET at the moment?
Angel Arto: PET for beverage and food applications keeps growing, with higher two-digit rates in developing countries, and one-digit growth rates in more mature areas such as West Europe and North America. Trends are also very different depending on the niches of the market. This can also be said of the individual water market segments, such as flavoured, premium, distributors or fillers’ brands and commodity products.
Describe the range of PET services that you offer the bottled water industry.
Angel Arto: Novapet is a European PET producer focused on innovation in the packaging industry, which is reflected in our portfolio of customers, products and services. Our new packaging projects involve working in close collaboration with final customers and key players, such as fillers, converters and technology suppliers.
In our customer portfolio, water is the predominant destination for our products. In 2009, approximately 54% of our resin was for bottle applications. In our product range, we have resins specifically designed for water. Our MW line offers clarity, mechanical performance, a low acetaldehyde level and process savings, while X_treme allows for lightweighting, and for larger bottles in the HOD channel, and Glasstar makes bottles appear extraordinarily glasslike.
In terms of services, we’re developing a lot of technical commercial projects, with projected final packaging and bottles destined for water, in which our special defined resins play a key role. They are looking to open up new applications for PET packaging with unprecedented levels of performance, which push the boundaries and broaden new growth opportunities for PET.
What are the latest technical developments in PET bottles for water, and how are they broadening design possibilities for bottled water manufacturers?
Angel Arto: All of them are linked to sustainability and recycling, economic factors and product differentiation:
- Sustainability and recycling – There’s a higher incorporation of rPET in bottles, along with virgin polymer. There are problems with sourcing rPET, and processing it with conventional equipment. There is also a trend towards biopolymers which originate from renewable sources, such as sugar cane.
- Lightweighting – This has become a trend for sustainability reasons, but also for cost savings. PET resins must offer good performance for very high stretch ratios, allowing the use of small, low-weight preforms in PET that render well for achieving traditional bottle shapes. Savings are also being made in neck finish and base designs.
- Product differentiation – At the moment, there’s a focus on premium water with customised bottles developed to distinguish and upgrade products, with the highest level of packaging performance possible. These PET bottles boast a glasslike appearance and retain the advantages of glass and plastic bottles. Customisation opens up lots of design possibilities, such as the addition of small details like etchings and rims.
How is your company addressing environmental issues?
Angel Arto: All of our PET resins offer recyclability. We’re very closely involved and ready to manage sustainability matters through our resources and direct collaboration with recycling players.
What does the future hold for PET as a packaging material for water?
Angel Arto: Despite some of the public messages being made against bottled water for sustainability reasons, we strongly believe in maintaining PET’s growth rates by working on developing new products with recycled material content, and also opening up new technical frontiers.
Miguel Angel Arto – business development director, Novapet – was interviewed by Medina Bailey, editor of Water Innovation magazine. Subscribe here.
- PET POWER part 1: Nadeem Amin from Husky.
- PET POWER part 3: Dino Enrico Zenette from PET Engineering.
- PET POWER part 4: Marco Savorani from Sacmi.
- PET POWER part 5: Franck Hancard from Sidel.
- PET POWER part 6: ‘GD’ from Sipa.
See also
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Water Innovation
Water Innovation looks at the spectrum of packaged water, from still and sparkling source waters through purified alternatives to flavoured and functional developments.
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