BASF have developed the world’s lightest half litre plastic bottle using a new grade of polystyrene launched by them designated PS BX 3580. It weighs only 7.5 grams and was produced on a conventional stretch blow moulding machine made by Krones AG.
Beverage manufacturers have been continuously trying to bring down the weight of plastic bottles to effect savings on material usage and on transportation of the bottled beverages. The lowest achieved so far had been a half litre bottle weighing just under 10 grams with PET using the stretch blow moulding process. Since polystyrene has a much lower density than PET, even a PS bottle having the same wall thickness as a PET bottle weighs about 25 per cent less. The PS bottle is, however, not transparent.
BASF intend to push this bottle for the packaging of beverages like milk products where transparency is not an essential requirement.