KHS Factor 100 PET lightweight bottle

KHS has engineered one of the world’s lightest PET bottles for still beverages. Under the working title of Factor 101, in close cooperation with Canadian-based injection moulding technology equipment and services provider Husky Technologies, a container has been produced that uses just 5.89 g of material to hold 591 mL of product.

The Factor 100 concept was first presented as a feasibility study back in 2017, and now a number of optimisations have been made towards further development.

To increase stability, the shoulder design has been modified and the bottle body reinforced with functional webbing. A base has been developed with a pop-in effect — the base pops inwards to a certain degree when a top load is applied, increasing the internal pressure and therefore the stability of the bottle.

Compared to the standard lightweight PET container holding 500 mL of still water that usually weighs 7 g on the US market, the joint KHS/Husky product requires 30% less material, according to the companies. It can also be manufactured entirely from rPET.