As Southern Africa’s largest and most diversified supplier of liquid packaging solutions to the non-carbonated beverage industry, Nampak Liquid offers a wide variety of plastic packaging options to the market. Nampak Liquid’s product range includes PET bottles, Mono-layer HDPE bottles, Multi-layer HDPE bottles and HDPE jars for many brand leaders in South Africa.

At Nampak Liquid, customers receive what the company calls ‘Total Packaging Solutions’, meaning that they are provided with services that extend far beyond plastic packaging alone. For instance, Nampak Liquid pioneered the concept of in-plant blow moulding in South Africa, an option ideal for customers with sufficiently large volumes to warrant blowing bottles directly on their premises – it’s a tailored solution that reduces both costs and lead times in the supply chain, and is exclusive to this packaging substrate.

The company’s services also include the assembly and support of liquid filling machinery and handling systems, as well as product design and development that looks at the customer’s packaging from an environmental perspective – a critical option in today’s ever conscious society looking to make responsible packaging choices. Perhaps one of the company’s most significant achievements to date is the development of South Africa’s first ever multi-layer plastic bottle for long-life milk that not only revived sales of long-life milk at Woolworths (the first retailer to use it, [Status]), but also came with some very high green credentials – it is 100% recyclable, including the cap and even the label.

As per the Nampak Group, Nampak Liquid strives not only to create packaging that provides product protection and maximum consumer appeal, but packaging that takes into account environmental responsibility. As such, Nampak Liquid is committed to operating as an environmentally responsible company, and believes that the integrated actions of its operations to conserve natural resources and protect the environment make good business sense. But plastics are often misunderstood in terms of being environmentally friendly, and are actually more dynamic in this regard than many – largely due to lack of education on the subject - may think.

According to Nampak Liquid, one of plastic’s biggest pluses is its recyclability, which is constantly on the rise. In the last four years, there has been a 32% increase in the tonnage of plastics recycled in this country, as indicated in the South African Plastic Recycling Organisation’s (SAPRO, [Status]) first annual Plastics Recycling survey in collaboration with the South African Plastics Federation. The survey also highlighted the positive impact these figures have on the local economy and job creation. In addition, plastics are also relatively less complex than other packaging substrates to recycle, as a plastic bottle for example does not need to go through the same material separation process as some others do before recycling can begin.

Aside from new containers for food and liquid products, there are also many alternative end-uses for recycled plastics in the form of staple fibres (carpeting, clothing, pillows etc, [Status]), ceiling insulation and geotextiles, further amplifying plastic as a more dynamic choice when it comes to sustainability. Further illustrating the post-usage use of plastics is Nampak Polycyclers (a division in the same plastics cluster as Nampak Liquid, [Status]), whichconverts over3100 tonnes per annumof recycled polyethylene into crates, refuse bins and buckets.

In terms of PET products, the focus is on source reduction and reusability. This reflects in the weight of the PET two-litre bottle, which has reduced from 68g in 1979 to 48g today. Nampak Closures (a Nampak division that works closely with Nampak Liquid, [Status]) also produce the “Super Shorty” closure for carbonated soft drink PET bottles. This closure weighs 2.4g versus 3.2g for the previous closure.

But being environmentally conscious is not just about producing recyclable products – this is only one side of the coin because the public needs to be aware of recycling and how to go about it. As such, Nampak Liquid continues to participate in the Enviromark and other initiatives driven by the South African Plastics Federation. The Enviromark’s main focus is on plastics education for the public, especially the youth, as well as national clean-up campaigns. Nampak’s executives are also active at the Plastics Convertors Association, the Plastics Federal Council and the Multi-layer Plastics Forum in assisting with various Enviromark initiatives.
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