Australian Canned water company Wallaby has released a new resealable aluminium bottle to market, and has invested $500,000 in specialised capping equipment to cap the bottles with wide-mouth ROPP (roll on pilfer proof) 38mm aluminium closures.
The new capping line, sourced via the Japanese supplier which manufactures and prints the bottle, is installed at Wallaby's filling plant at Truganina, Victoria. The investment will enable the production of 120 bottles per minute with a line capacity of ~14 million units per annum.
Wallaby was the first water to market in aluminium packaging when it launched in partnership with Cotton Group in 2019. Now branded as Wallaby's own offering, the bottles are filled with spring water from Mt Buninyong, Victoria, and will compete against plastic, cartons and glass packaging as Australia's most recycled and recycle-friendly packaging alternative for bottled water, says the company.
"With the goals set by APCO's 2025 National Packaging Targets, now is the time for companies to design innovative packs that show your commitment to sustainable packaging and the national targets. Wallaby's resealable aluminium bottles tick 9 out of 10 of the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines, utilises the Australian Recycling Label, and provides a no-frills solution that consumers can easily implement without any changes to existing infrastructure," said Dominic Goldsworthy, founder and director of Wallaby.
Wallaby says it intends to develop larger format containers between 600-750ml by Q3 2023 and up to 1.25L by 2025. The company plans to offer contract packaging services for a wide range of beverages in aluminium bottles in the coming years.
It claims that introducing the 400ml aluminium bottle of spring water will save an estimated 150+ tonnes of plastic in the first year. To date, Wallaby says it has replaced over four million plastic bottles with their pull-ring canned water, now at a rate of approximately three million containers per year, and growing.
The product be available to purchase nationwide via wholesalers, retailers and online in mid-January 2023.
