Graham Packaging said it has speeded up the introduction of the technology due to the recent hike in resin prices due to the rising cost of oil.

Food companies have generally been downgauging their packaging, whether made from plastic or metal, as new technologies allow them to make savings on the cost of materials.

The special process results in a lighter weight PET bottle without having to change design or sacrifice any performance characteristics, said Toshi Kojitani, director of Graham Packaging's unit for the product.

"This special moulding process in effect distributes the plastic where it's needed and removes it where it's not needed," said Kojitani. "The bottom line is that we're achieving overall light-weighting without any loss of physical function."

Graham Packaging started the development of the new technology two years ago and hastened the effort with the rise in resin prices that occurred last year, Kojitani said.

The first actual product to emerge from development will be a multi-serve hot-fill bottle. Kojitani said the bottle will be blown in the same mold used for the current, heavier version of the same size bottle. This technology will eventually be rolled out to the company's entire family of PET hot-fill bottles.

"The new bottle has exactly the same look, height, diameter, and footprint as the current version," he said. "Our tests and a trial run on a customer's filling line demonstrate that there's no difference in performance from the current container."

Ashok Sudan, Graham Packaging's executive vice president said the technology was developed to allow customers to make the switch without disturbing their brand image or filling line set-up.

He noted that the evolution of PET bottles has consistently gone in the direction of lighter weight.

Graham Packaging has 87 plants in North America, Europe, and South America with net sales for the last 12 months of $2.4 billion.

The company is a leading US supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments, and beers. It claims to be the leading global supplier of plastic containers for yogurt drinks.

Last week Tetra Pak started the worldwide rollout of a stronger but thinner polymer packaging for liquid products, promising companies it will help them cut costs and meet recycling standards.

Tetra Pak's new packaging, branded as "Wide", is designed for ambient and roll-fed chilled liquid product packages. The new material has an inner coating that is stronger and more reliable than the standard packaging format currently produced at Tetra Pak's factories, the company stated.

Even though it is stronger, it is 30 per cent thinner and requires fewer polymers to produce, Tetra Pak said in a release.

Tetra Pak estimates that once all of its factories have converted to the new standard by March this year, it will be able to cut its consumption of polymers by 50,000 tons, equating to about 2,500 shipping containers annually.