Sidel helps Inex boost production capacity and sustainability

The Belgian milk producer Inex has invested in Sidel’s aseptic PET packaging line to help meet a growing demand for locally produced milk. Sidel’s new efficient packaging line will enable Inex to boost production capacity and sustainability by supplying ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk products in PET bottles. The shift from carton to PET gives Inex the possibility to offer UHT milk packaged in safe and user-friendly PET bottles, with a much lower environmental footprint.

Inex is a 100 per cent privately owned company in the heart of Belgium that collects milk from local farmers. It exports 50 per cent of its production to neighbouring countries and produces a variety of authentic dairy pro­ducts including fresh and long-life UHT milk, dairy drinks, cream and other milk derivatives.

To increase production capacity and simultaneously reduce its environmental footprint, Inex has cooperated closely with Sidel to design and install a new aseptic packaging line that will package its UHT milk in a safe, sustainable and user-­friendly PET bottle.

“Sidel was an excellent cooperation partner. All viewpoints they offered made it clear to us how beneficial the new line would be,”

Steven Dierickx, CEO at Inex.

There were several considerations that influenced the decision to shift from carton to white PET. PET is not only a perfect match for safe and shelf-stable low-acid products, but it is also a 100 per cent closed-loop recyclable material. In addition, production with Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis^™, a blow-fill-seal solution with dry preform and cap sterilisation, is much more environmentally responsible. No water is consumed and very few chemicals are used to sterilise the bottle during production.

“The new PET bottle contains a minimum of 25 per cent recycled PET, is 20 per cent lighter than other plastic (PE) bottles and therefore has a 20 per cent lower CO₂ footprint,” concludes Dierickx.