Alpla and CCL Label have developed a 0.33-litre stackable PET beverage container designed to combine the appearance of a can with the functionality of a resealable bottle.
Featured in ThePackHub’s Innovation Zone, the transparent PET format is described as a ‘bottle in can’ and is intended as an alternative to conventional aluminium beverage packaging. The container is compatible with existing PET filling lines, potentially allowing beverage manufacturers to adopt the format without installing a separate can-filling process.
Combining can format with bottle functionality
The container has a can-shaped profile but incorporates a threaded neck and tethered closure, allowing consumers to reseal it after opening.
Alpla has also designed the format to be stackable, adding another characteristic associated with conventional beverage cans.
The container can be produced using recycled PET, according to the companies, and is designed to enter established bottle-to-bottle PET recycling streams.
Shrink sleeve designed for PET separation
The container is paired with CCL Label’s EcoFloat full-body shrink sleeve, providing 360° decoration across the pack.
The low-density sleeve is designed to separate from the PET during the recycling process. When the material is processed, the denser PET flakes sink while the sleeve floats, allowing the two materials to be separated.
Together, the container and sleeve demonstrate an approach that combines format differentiation with established PET packaging technologies. For beverage producers, compatibility with PET filling lines is particularly relevant, as the concept provides a can-shaped format without requiring a conventional can-filling set-up.
