Pioneering position
Polish brewery Van Pur invests in one of the first PET lines for beer and in the first InnoPET Plasmax machine in the country.
The Van Pur brewing company holds a pioneering position among Polish breweries. It's not only one of the first breweries in the country to invest in a line for the manufacture, filling and packaging of PET bottles; it's also the first company to have procured an InnoPET Plasmax 12D machine, giving it cutting-edge coating technology. Piotr Polanski, operations director at Van Pur, says, "There were two reasons for opting for the InnoPET Plasmax 12D. Firstly, with the internal Plasmax coating of PET bottles we can offer our customers top-quality beer in light and unbreakable containers. Secondly, we’ve invested in a system which is cost effective and energy efficient."The InnoPET Plasmax 12D coats the insides of PET bottles with an ultrathin layer of glass. This coating prevents the migration of carbon dioxide, oxygen and flavorings between the product and packaging as well as the environment, perfectly protecting even the most sensitive of beverages against loss of quality. Polanski states, "Our products in Plasmax-coated PET bottles have the same quality parameters as those bottled in glass. We're thus able to provide a minimum shelf life of eight months for our beer in light PET bottles, too."
Van Pur attaches great importance to sustainability. It thus considers another advantage of the system to be that bottles coated with Plasmax are 100% recyclable in the bottle-to-bottle recycling process. In the meantime everyone who works at Van Pur is also enthusiastic about Plasmax technology and the protection of the product. After a blind tasting session of beer of the same original quality which had been bottled in both coated and uncoated PET containers and stored for three months, the employees reached a unanimous verdict, namely that "The difference in taste is vast. The beer in the Plasmax-coated PET bottles has kept its freshness and full taste."
The new KHS PET line at Van Pur consists not just of an InnoPET Plasmax 12D machine but also includes an InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow molder, an Innofill DVF PET filler, an Innoket SE labeler and Innopack Kisters packaging technology. Says Polanski, "We're very satisfied with KHS technology. About 90% of the technical equipment currently in operation at our brewery is therefore from KHS."
Van Pur is the largest privately-run brewing company in Poland and number four among Poland's brewery groups. It currently produces four million hectoliters of beer a year at its five breweries which constitutes 10% of all beer produced in Poland. As the biggest beer exporter in Poland Van Pur is active in 50 countries, with almost 50% of its beer destined for export. The company believes that in addition to the can the PET bottle is an extremely sustainable type of packaging which also scores on handling and transportation.
