Make a Lighter, Stronger Plastic Bottle

Patrick Di Justo

The constraint: Use less plastic to fashion a container that's greener yet still sturdy.The solution: Introduce the right curves.Plastic saved: 2.1 grams per bottle.Bottled water sales in US: 4.3 billion gallons (2007)Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Deer Park—all owned by Nestlé. So when the food conglomerate decided to boost its green cred (and save some money) by redesigning its water bottles, what it came up with was the instantly ubiquitous Eco-Shape. Employing thinner plastic, Nestlé created a container that's about 15 percent lighter than its predecessor. But that alone would have left the original cylindrical design weak and crushable. So the company also adopted a corseted silhouette: The arch at the center reinforces the bottle's structure, just as it did for Roman aqueducts 3,000 years ago.

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1 // Plastic Because it uses less material, the bottle's empty weight has dropped from 14.5 grams to 12.4 grams. This has reduced the polymer resin Nestlé needs by about 65 million pounds annually.

2 // Arch The shapely waist adds stability. The plastic at the curve is about one-thousandth of an inch thicker than the rest; water pressure pushing against it makes the bottle stronger.

3 // Ridges Curved horizontal ribs provide strength and a little style. Vertical troughs running from the shoulder to the base provide support the same way that a fold in a piece of paper allows it to stand up on its own.

<p>—>ick Di Justo (<a [email protected]</a> a</emed <em>ributing editor.</em

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