Plastic beer bottle update: It's Miller time!

Food & Drug Packaging, July, 1999 by Lisa McTigue Pierce

Miller Brewing Co. is now the only U.S. brewer selling beer in plastic bottles, following Anheuser-Busch's withdrawal of its polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) beer bottles from select test markets.

Last month, Miller announced plans for expanding distribution of its Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and Icehouse beer in 20-ounce and 1-liter multi-layer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Specific sites of the six or eight additional retail test markets-primarily through convenience stores--were not yet released as of presstime.

Jeff Waalkes, sales communications manager, explains the market niche for beer in plastic bottles: "Bottled beer didn't replace draft. Aluminum cans didn't replace bottles or draft. Our plastic bottles represent just another choice for consumers."

In addition, Miller has begun shipping the single-serve barrier bottles, supplied by Continental PET Technologies, with new tamper-evident screw-on aluminum closures from Silgan Containers that can be removed entirely from the bottle, without leaving a drop-down ring. This minor modification helps alleviate concern voiced by a few municipalities about the impact of plastic beer bottles on the recycling process.

Miller's PET/oxygen scavengers/PET/oxygen scavengers/PET bottle carrizes the 1 PETE resin identification symbol and achieves the same four-month shelf life as glass bottles and aluminum cans at a weight seven times lighter than its glass counterpart.

For more information from Continental PET Technologies, call (419) 247-1184 or mark Item 236. For information from Silgan Containers, call (800) 775-7666 or mark Item 237.