”A partner that saves euros and nature”

Wine bottles Innovative plastic bottles that reduce the product’s carbon footprint and create savings both in raw material and transportation costs play a central role in Pernod Ricard’s business. – The shift from glass bottles to plastic bottles has reduced the amount of packing material that we transport yearly by 5 million kg. The financial and environmental impacts of the savings are enormous, states Procurement Manager Nina Sibelius of Pernod Ricard Finland.

When the second largest operator on the Finnish alcohol market, Pernod Ricard Finland was looking for a certain type of PET bottle in the beginning of 2013, they turned to the active, new entrant Muovi-Heljanko.

– Muovi-Heljanko could deliver what we wanted. When the partnership proved positive, the company grew into our main supplier, Sibelius summarises their 5-year-old partnership.

– An innovative attitude is key. We want a partner who proactively develops the product, the production process and the cooperation. Muovi-Heljanko does not wait for an assignment to improve packaging features, but does it on their own initiative.

– Muovi-Heljanko delivers the majority of the plastic bottles we use – up to eight different models and two different colours. This diversity is important to us, as our product selection is wide and different products require different packagings.

Impressions and decisions are made by the shelf

Pernod Ricard Finland produces first class Finnish alcoholic beverages and is responsible for the sales and marketing of internationally known wines and spirits. On a market where product advertising is strictly controlled and highly restricted, the packaging plays a very important role.

– If the bottle does not look good on the shelf, or a corner of the label is loose, the same negative qualities are associated with the contents. The bottle’s colour and shape influence the consumers’ impressions about the product.

– Both multi- and monolayer PET is used depending on the contents. Multilayer PET is more dense than monolayer, explains Nina Sibelius about the plastic bottle material.

Standard plastic bottle became 27 % lighter

If we think about the entire life cycle of the product, the environmental impacts of plastics as packaging material are clearly smaller than the impacts of glass.

– Since we shifted from glass bottles to plastic bottles we now we transport 5 million kilos less packaging material yearly. The financial and environmental impacts of the savings are enormous.

– More savings have been made thanks to Muovi-Heljanko’s development efforts. With the help of technology and raw materials used, the weight of the standard bottles has been reduced. For example, the hip flask type of bottle now weighs 20 % and the round bottle 27 % less than the previously used bottles.

Muovi-Heljanko challenges itself, its branch and its customers

Today’s trend in plastics is the use of recycled plastics and in the future this will most likely be the rule, rather than the exception. So far, producing recycled raw materials that are suitable for foodstuffs is complicated, and alcohol brings its own challenges to the choice of raw materials.

– In the alcohol branch recycled plastics are hardly used yet, but we can see them taking on a powerful role in the future. At the moment we are conducting research together with the experts at Muovi-Heljanko on the possibilities of recycled plastics.

– For our development projects we need a trustworthy and competent partner whose bold ideas and good quality support our own objectives. Muovi-Heljanko is that partner!, Nina Sibelius says happily.

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