The Clasper™ blow molded bottle technology is now being made available to brand owners who want to market a product in a package with two separate containers.
It provides a unique packaging solution for boundary-pushing food, beverage, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, industrial and household chemical products. The Clasper concept enables two different products to be consumed in sequence or mixed together and then consumed.
The first commercialization of this new technology was the recent introduction of Yumix portable, shelf-stable line of cocktails. The Clasper technology combines two polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers, with the bottom container snapping into the base of the larger top bottle. Although the cocktail line launch features a bottom container which holds 50 ml of premium alcohol and a main bottle which holds 6.5 ounces of hot-filled, shelf-stable juice, the size and shape of the compartments can be altered to accommodate a wide variety of other applications.
The Clasper concept is the brainchild of Yumix founder Alex Garner and was engineered by Plastic Technologies Inc. (PTI, plastictechnologies.com). The challenge for PTI was to find the right geometry and bottle weight to keep the dimensions within the appropriate tolerances so that the snap fit was consistently achieved, but yet have the containers be easily separable by the consumer.
“With brand owners continuing to develop new products and create new sub-categories, we wanted to create a disruptive package type that pushes traditional boundaries. It gives companies a way to market companion products—such as two liquids or a liquid and a powder – that, for whatever reason, cannot be premixed,” explained Ron Puvak, director of marketing and new business development, Plastic Technologies Inc.
Although the Clasper was original designed for a hot-fill application, modifications can be made to accommodate other process types. The containers can also be decorated via a shrink sleeve, which provides added visual appeal and usage instructions.
