Plastic packager Petainer to provide PET beverage containers for Russian independent brewery Samko; kegs are lightweight, recyclable, available in four sizes

Kendall Sinclair

PETERBOROUGH, England , October 31, 2011 (press release) – Pivovarinny Zavod Samko (Samko), an independent brewery in central Russia, is to supply high quality beer in new lightweight, recyclable beverage containers made by Petainer, the specialist plastics packaging technology business.

Petainer Kegs manufactured in PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) are being trialled by the Samko brewery, based in the country’s Penza Region, with the prospect of further orders to follow.

Samko is keen to be a leader in its field and operate at the forefront of innovation.

This privately-owned company is one of the first brewers to use the innovative, environmentally-friendly kegs. It is taking them as preforms to blow and fill on a recently-installed semi-automatic plastic keg line.

Samko produces approximately 300,000 hectolitres of beer a year and has established a reputation in Russia for brewing and supplying beers of high quality.

As part of a preliminary agreement between the brewery, Petainer and KHS – which provides the filling line, including processing and other essential equipment – preform containers have been supplied to Samko.

The brewery’s owner and managing director Valentin Samko said: “We believe there are important cost and environmental benefits for us in filling and selling our beer in Petainer plastic kegs. These kegs also offer many benefits that our customers appreciate.

“The early feedback we are receiving about the kegs is encouraging. Now we are looking forward to our clients’ feedback because we are keen to understand the benefits of the Petainer Keg in their business.”

Petainer Kegs are available in four sizes – 15, 20, 30 and 40 litres. They are designed for one-way use and have low-cost Micro Matic-compatible fittings which allow the containers to be connected to existing standard tapping systems for draught beer.

Compared with metal containers, Petainer Kegs offer substantial benefits to breweries, fillers and other users including low transport costs (especially when the kegs are delivered as preforms), easy recycling and lower environmental impacts.

Nigel Pritchard, group chief executive of Petainer, said: “These containers are a significant breakthrough in the sales and marketing of volume beer. Breweries like Samko are recognising there are significant advantages in using these revolutionary new Petainer Kegs.

“They offer our customers major benefits including lower costs, better cash flow and substantial improvements to their environmental performance.”
KHS is an international manufacturer of filling and packaging systems for beverage, food and non-food industries and works in partnership with Petainer to deliver keg products to new customers.

Felix Wagner, head of the competence centre keg technology at KHS, said: “As the market leader in keg technology, we are delighted to work with Petainer and brewers like Samko on these pioneering large-scale applications of the Petainer Keg.

“The environmental, economic and handling benefits of these lightweight containers, combined with the KHS keg solutions and technology, provide a compelling business and marketing case for our customers.”

The kegs can be supplied either as complete, ready-to-fill containers, or as preforms which are blown to full size on or near the site where they are required. This provides a clear advantage over metal kegs and other plastic formats.

Samko is the second independent brewery in Russia to place an order for the Petainer Kegs. The other is Lipetsk Pivo, which has the world’s largest plastic keg filling line at its brewery in Russia.

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