Aluminium gets infinite makeover
The bottle, produced by Ball’s French aerosols business, has seen “a lot of interest” from international brand-owners in areas such as water, drinking yoghurts and spirits, Sebastien Gaspari, vice president and general manager of Aerosol Packaging Europe told Food Manufacture.
In fact, the bottle is produced using technology that dates back to 2001, when development work led to the first commercialised bottle of its kind for Heineken, using a crown cork closure. The new bottle incorporates a screw thread.
The cost of aluminium
When challenged on costs, Gaspari admitted that plastics or even glass were significantly less expensive. “We offer a quality feel and direct printing, but the bottle would be more than twice the price of plastics,” he said. Brands could launch in Infinity and later move to Ball’s lighter Alumi-Tek drawn-and-ironed aluminium bottle, Gaspari suggested.
Following a successful US trial of Infinity in late 2019, Ball is building its first dedicated aluminum cups manufacturing facility, in Rome, Georgia.
