World’s first sustainable PET sparkling wine bottle

The collaboration of Indorma Ventures Public Company Limited, one of the world’s leading sustainable chemical companies, and SIPA, a leading PET packaging technology specialist, has given the world its first sustainable, monolayer PET sparkling wine bottle on International Wine Day.

The patented bottle is developed and designed by SIPA’s Packaging Development Team and made from Indorama Venture’s original bottle resin and OxyClear barrier. It’s an improved alternative to traditional glass bottles, helping the European wine industry address a glass shortage due to supply chain, energy and raw material challenges. 

The new bottle was awarded the top prize in the 2023 Best Packaging contest at Milan Design Week. It gives the same look, functionality and feeling of a traditional glass sparkling wine bottle. A key SIPA innovation is the design of the bottleneck to make it look like the glass version, allowing it to accept the classical mushroom-shaped cork with metal cage closure. The base also matches the original glass version, while the bottle has a top-load resistance of 350kg.

“With this proud innovation for the market, our intention is for consumers to enjoy the same celebratory sparkling wine experience – from uncorking to pouring. And second, to support the industry overall as wine companies can make the change at no cost, as extensive tests have proven that PET bottles can run on filling lines designed for glass bottles. The collaboration with Indorama Ventures offers environmentally improved packaging, while allowing brands to stand out by taking a stance on sustainability and differentiating themselves at point of sale, with creative shapes, easy-to-design bottles and improved logistics,” said Marco Brusadin, Global Packaging Development Director at SIPA.

Characteristics of the PET sparkling wine bottle

• At just 90g, it’s about 80 percent lighter than a traditional glass bottle and is almost unbreakable.
• The optimal weight allows up to 33 percent more bottles per truck, and its shatter-proof properties help improve mobility logistics.
• It will offer wine brands opportunities in new channels like e-commerce and onboard transport as well as new consumption occasions at festivals and events.
• Fully-recyclable in regular recycling streams and on average emits less than half of the level of greenhouse gases (GHG) of glass bottles.

Marc Potemans, Business Head of Specialty Chemicals at Indorama Ventures, said, “Indorama Ventures’ advanced barrier resin delivers a monolayer PET sparkling wine bottle with many advantages. The excellent oxygen barrier gives a minimum shelf life of 24 months, and the packaging has glass-like clarity while protecting the sparkling wine’s taste, bouquet and, importantly, effervescence. The new bottle is fully recyclable in the standard clear PET stream. The SIPA and Indorama Ventures’ teams have developed this solution quickly and we can now support the full supply chain.”