Heineken France has reduced the weight of its 25cl glass bottle with the technological support of O-I Glass.
The beer bottle has been reduced by 10 grams compared to its current weight.
O-I's glassworks are located close to the company’s breweries and it supplies bottles to the brewer. It provided fortnightly updates to ensure the follow-up of actions and the progress of development.
Pierre-Alain Bataillard, packaging expert at Heineken France, said the weight reduction of the bottle had environmental benefits, including limiting the use of sand during the production process.
“Reducing the weight of our bottles is one of the decisive levers to achieve the objectives of the Brewing a Better World programme aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
“The reduction of ten grams of our 25 cl bottle, which will go from 165 to 155 grams of glass, will save 6500 to 7000 tons of glass per year. This is considerable.”
He said the challenge for the company was to reduce the weight of the bottle without losing strength and to launch products which respected food safety, while still being compatible with consumer uses.
He added: “Of course, this project would not have been possible without an evolution of technology both at the glassmakers and on the bottling lines in order, for example, to preserve the integrity of the bottles.”
