India-based BL Agro banks long-term edible oil profits from Sidel’s lightweight PET bottles

31 Mar 2020 --- India-based BL Agro Industries (BL Agro) has witnessed steady demand for its edible oil thanks to its longstanding partnership with French liquids packaging supplier Sidel. The latter delivers nature-friendly, safe and affordable PET bottles for the former’s edible oil brands, including a 2 L and 5 L bottle with a handle in a curvy, cylindrical design. BL Agro shifted from metallic cans to recyclable mono-materials two decades ago, having quickly established that Sidel’s PET bottles are more convenient for both consumers and producers in terms of weight and transportation.

“It was very important to find the right balance between the innovative packaging concept and lightweighting requirements to take into account sustainability constraints, while simultaneously enabling cost savings,” Giulio Bellanti, Sidel Business Development Director for Edible Oil in Asia, Oceania and Africa, tells PackagingInsights.

The decision to shift from metal to PET material was predominantly a practical one. “Previously, the majority of edible oils in the country were packed in 15 kg tins, which are not transparent and very heavy. The entire segment is shifting towards consumer packs and PET is an ideal solution for that,” Bellanti explains.

Both the 2 L and 5 L bottles underwent the lightweighting process, reducing the latter bottle’s weight from 130 g to 110 g, excluding the handle. These weight reductions translate to more than 650 tons of PET saved per year, alongside significant savings in terms of material costs in a highly competitive edible oil market. This is especially the case in India, Sidel notes.

The right design
The market demand for nature-friendly packaging for edible oils in India continues to grow, with PET as a recyclable mono-material being the most environmentally sustainable solution. “It also allows for great design flexibility and transparency, as well as absolute food safety. This material is economically viable for our customers to achieve their sustainability targets,” Bellanti highlights.

During its initial conception, BL Agro underscored its need for a convenient handle to facilitate transportation. Its insertion on the body of the bottle, as well as forming the notches during the blowing phase, were also key features. At the same time, there were concerns the notches would be too deep, which would affect the handle’s durability and force it to fall off.

PET plastic bottles with handles are perhaps taken from granted today but they were not a standard design feature in bottle packaging when Sidel and BL Agro’s collaboration first began. “It was very difficult to find suppliers who were confident to take on this challenge. The packaging team at Sidel was the only one who agreed to do a prototyping of the bottle, including the two notches for the handle,” says Ashish Khandelwal, Executive Director of BL Agro.

Sidel started the cooperation with BL Agro in 2015 and went through several phases of lightweighting, resulting in the installation of the complete line for the 2 L bottle format with handle in 2017. Bellanti notes that its collaboration with BL Agro has been one of the leading projects in lightweighting and is “perhaps already one of a kind worldwide.”

Eyes on the prize
Both the 2 L and the 5 L bottle formats were successfully introduced to the market and have received national and international recognition by winning the India Star Packaging Award as well as the Asia Star Packaging Award.

“It shows that Sidel can convince its clients by supplying equipment and complete line solutions as well as representing the perfect partner to develop bottle formats in a creative, industrial and cost-saving way. In doing so, we can secure final results and overall production efficiency while meeting marketing expectations,” Bellanti emphasizes.

In more recent collaborations, Sidel has partnered with family-owned Australian brand Bickford’s by installing a complete, flexible PET line for sensitive beverages and carbonated soft drinks. 

The packaging company also recently joined forces with the US market key player Aurora Organic Dairy. Sidel installed Aseptic Combi Predis in their second milk plant in Columbia, Missouri, US, which is FDA-approved and part of a complete line. 

By Anni Schleicher