New economy in plastic bottles

Is the breakthrough here? Lever's 12-oz. bottle

for Swan detergent, using linear polyethylene and blow molded

by high-production method. costs no more than a can

rhe day may be here when an all-plastic, blow-molded container for a mass-produced product can compete on an equal price basis with a comparable metal container.

Lever Bros, reports that its handsome new pink-colored polyethylene bottle in 12-oz. size for new Swan Mild Lotion Detergent costs about the same as the pour-spout metal or composite metal-plastic can which is being used almost universally today for packaging liquid detergents. And it is being used independently of any squeeze function an application of the polyethylene bottle which in itself is highly significant.

The new Swan bottle is significant on other counts as well:

1.    It is one of the first blown bottles to use the new, stiller, linear polyethylene.

2.    Because of the density of the resin, it contains volatile ingredients of the detergent without the need for a liner.

3.    It marks the entry of the largest producer of glass containers into the plastic-bottle field, reportedly using a new type of high-production blow-molding equipment which effects marked economies.

The cost comparison with metal does not take into account last month's 3% rise in steel, which, with the price of polyethylene resin holding steady, will further improve the plastic's position. Lever Bros, points out, however, that competitive container cost at present is reached only in the smaller (12-oz.) of two sizes of plastic bottles now being test marketed.

The larger (22-oz.) polyethylene container was still, as of last month, slightly more expensive than a metal can of comparable size, principally because of the greater wall thickness required for the larger size. So far, a third larger size has not been introduced. The two initial markets were Milwaukee and Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

The supplier reports that economy is due "to the advanced technique developed in bottle-making machines and to the nature of the high-density polyethylene from which the containers are fabricated."� Greater rigidity, inherent in the high-density resin,

permits the effective use of thinner bottle walls.

According to Lever, container cost was not the only consideration in the selection of this new package. Swan Lotion Detergent is a new product, designed for mildness to overcome consumer objections to previous detergents used for washing dishes and fine fabrics which were considered "hard on the hands."� Other claims for the product are that it cuts grease faster with a superior fat-emulsification agent and washes fabrics brighter because of a fluorescent dye ingredient.

Lever wanted a package to emphasize these product improvement-�a container with a less commercial look and more feminine in appeal (pretty as the pink lotion detergent in it) that would be easier to handle and would not rust, dent or leak. The improved plastic, providing better protection against moisture loss and greater resistance to chemical ingredients of the product, plus more comparable costs, swung the decision.

The new packages were adopted after months of research both by the supplier arid in Lever Bros.' own package-research laboratory in Edgewater,

N. ]., where samples were put through exhaustive chemical and physical tests, followed by actual test shipments. Experiments were conducted in a wide range of wall thickness before it was determined that a wall of 30 mils for the 12-oz. size and 40 mils for the 22-oz. size would do the job.

Extensive panel tests showed that consumers preferred the new polyethylene container six to one over a metal container for the new product, according to Lever Bros.

The Swan Mild Lotion Detergent containers are made with private molds designed with slight recessing around the cylindrical wall to accommodate a five-color-printed, aluminum-foil, wrap-aroun label in a manner that helps to reduce scuffing Being recessed slightly from the outside circum ference of the container, the labels are not subject to rubbing against one another on the shelf or in % shipment, the company says.

Experiments were made with direct printing of label information on the container itself, but this