Small Pet Suppliers Gain From Aldi'S Move To Ditch Beer Cans: The German Deposit System Creates Business For Pet Bottle Makers

Discount supermarket Aldi, which has around 7% of the German beer market, has decided to clear its shelves of beer in cans and non-refillable glass and plastic bottles in response to the German government's introduction of deposits on all non-refillable packaging - refunded when empty containers are returned to retailers. Much of the country's packaging and retail sector resisted the proposal and few collection points have been installed. Aldi's decision could generate business for two of the smaller suppliers of multilayer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Aldi's main supplier, Holsten, already uses reusable monolayer bottles supplied by Amcor PET EU. It may now source bottles from Germany and Sodripack, Belgium. Sodripack recently won a contract to supply preforms to the Thomas Hardy brewery, the first in the UK to install PET blow moulding & packaging lines.