Creating the next generation of lightweight bottles | Materials

Creating the next generation of lightweight bottles

Background
What we're looking for
What we can offer you
Who we are
Q&A

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Get them answered by the team at Procter & Gamble.

Background

Procter & Gamble is committed to achieving its Ambition 2030 and 2040 sustainability goals, which include reducing plastic usage and lowering carbon footprint.

Our initial focus is on light weighting plastic bottles, as they make up a large percentage of the packaging materials we use globally. While there are existing solutions that reduce the weight of plastic bottles, many compromise on bottle strength and/or performance. This reduction in strength can lead to issues such as product damage during transportation, increased packaging waste due to breakage, and operational challenges on the packaging line. We want to identify and develop light weighting solutions that can MAINTAIN bottle strength and performance.

What we're looking for

We are looking for solutions that enable 25+% light weighting of HDPE and PET bottles, while maintaining package overall strength to meet existing packing line and supply chain requirements. Solutions can be developmental, not limited to commercial solutions.

Solutions of interest include:

Innovative materials or additives
Innovative bottle making processes beyond traditional blow molding and injection stretch blow molding (ISBM)
Insights or approaches from industries beyond packaging with expertise in materials efficiency, e.g. shoe design, aerospace, automotive, architecture, etc.

Our must-have requirements are:

Enable 25+% light weighting of HDPE or PET bottles.
Maintain overall package strength.
Maintain recyclability in recycling streams for plastic bottles/closure.

What's out of scope:

Temporary packaging line solutions that do not improve bottle strength, like using support (pucks) to provide artificial strength to lightweight bottles as they travel through the packaging line.
Known light weighting approaches for packaging, such as simple shape modifications and wall thickness reduction.

Acceptable technology readiness levels (TRL):

Levels 3-9

What we can offer you

Eligible partnership models:

Sponsored researchCo-developmentEquity investmentSupply/purchaseLicensingCapstone project

Benefits:

Sponsored Research

Funding is available for development of methods or models that provide the desired outcome described above. Funding amount to be determined by mutually agreed-upon statement of work and consistent with existing funding range for graduate or postdoctoral level research.

Expertise

Partners will be connected to upstream packaging R&D personnel with expertise in polymer science, packaging, chemistry, materials measurements, rheology, and analytical science.

Tools and Technologies

We have lab and pilot scale packaging equipment for testing of potential solutions.

Who we are

At P&G, innovation is what we do best. We love finding solutions to problems. With the heart of a start-up and the resources of a global corporation, we are always looking for ways to reinvent every aspect of our business. As we innovate, we find inspiration in people - their needs, values, desires, and passions. The people of P&G R&D know that collaboration is key to unlocking visionary thinking. Our experts seamlessly work together with our external partners in the pursuit of the new, the next, the impossible. Read more here: https://www.pgconnectdevelop.com/

Learn more

Reviewers

Allison Walsh

Communications Specialist

Pete Ellingson

Director / Open Innovation

Matt Wagner

Director, New Technology & Product Development

Q&A with Procter & Gamble

The Q&A is now closed.

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I am a professor in the Polymer Sci & Eng Dept. at UMass Amherst. Recently we have been developing a food packaging method using flow induced crystallization of HDPE to enhance oxygen barrier. How many pages for a prop?

Alan Lesser, Principal Investigator, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

August 26, 2024

Great! Click the blue 'Easy Apply' button at the top of this Opportunity Page, the prompts will walk you through your proposal submission. We do not limit by page count, we are focused on the quality of your responses via the proposal submission guide.