Stable, lightweight, sustainable – Echovai wins Swiss Packaging Award 2023

02.06.2023: The returnable bottle made of thermally tempered lightweight glass produced through the Vetropack Group's Echovai process has won the prestigious Swiss Packaging Award in the "Technology" category. Compared to standard bottles, the product proves to be more stable and, above all, more environmentally friendly. The benefits convinced the jury, and Echovai also won the jury prize.

The Vetropack Group Innovation Center has been researching the process for almost ten years. With Echovai, it is now possible for the first time to harden glass bottles in a thermally controlled manner and produce lightweight glass bottles economically. In the pilot project with the Austrian Mohrenbrauerei, several million of the lightweight glass bottles were produced and tested. The use of Echovai achieves a weight saving of around 30 percent for the 0.33-liter returnable containers compared to standard bottles. Additionally, the lightweight glass bottle was found to be significantly more resistant to abrasion than conventional returnable bottles. This pioneering achievement impressed the jury and Echovai was presented with the Swiss Packaging Award in the "Technology" category.

But that's not all: the jury also awarded the Echovai lightweight glass bottle its special prize. With its outstanding features, Echovai won among 21 nominated packaging solutions. Furthermore, its victories qualified the innovative lightweight glass bottle for entry in the Word Packaging Award, giving the Swiss development team plenty to look forward to.

"We are incredibly proud of the accolades from the prestigious Swiss Packaging Award. The development of the Echovai solution was only possible with the determination and perseverance of our colleagues - and we see this result as an impressive confirmation of our work," commented Daniel Egger, Head of Innovation at Vetropack Group.

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PI_EN_Vetropack_Swiss_Packaging_Award.pdf (pdf)

Stronger, lighter, and more environmentally friendly: Vetropack's bottles made with Echovai technology are the world's first returnable bottles made of tempered lightweight glass. (jpg)

The lightweight glass bottles were designed with a lower height compared to standard bottles. This saves considerably on logistics costs and CO2 emissions. (jpg)

After three years and up to twelve loops, the Echovai containers show hardly any wear on the contact surfaces. (jpg)

Vetropack's thermally toughened Echovai lightweight glass bottle has won the Swiss Packaging Award 2023 in the "Technology" category as well as the jury's special prize. (jpg)

About Vetropack Group

At Vetropack, we enable people to enjoy food and beverages as safely as possible by providing solutions that combine optimum elegance with maximum responsibility. We view glass as the most sustainable packaging solution – and the perfect material to ensure that food is packaged safely. Our holistic Service plus+ approach helps our customers to optimise their value chains and guarantee consumers' safety. Close, long-lasting relationships are the hallmarks of our collaboration with partners. Guided by our understanding of environmental responsibility and cost efficiency, we aim to minimise our carbon footprint throughout the supply chain, and we are committed to recycling as the key to optimising product life-cycles.

Vetropack Group is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of glass packaging for the food and beverage industry with around 4,000 employees and net revenues of CHF 899.4 million in 2022. Vetropack has state-of-the-art production facilities as well as sales and distribution offices in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Italy, the Republic of Moldova and Romania.