Australian-based and ASX-listed multinational packaging company, Amcor, has adapted its design technology in the development of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for pasteurised beer.

The company has launched the PET bottles for New Age Bebidas’ Salzburg craft beer in Brazil, designing custom 60cm containers for the beverage maker.

Amcor’s design showcases the New Age Bebidas’ Salzburg craft beer brand but differentiates it from standard glass bottle designs with glass-like, lightweight and shatter resistant PET.

Replicating the standard glass bottle design, the 600ml PET containers are a replacement for glass during the filling and capping process, withstanding the internal pressure and high-heat conditions of the tunnel pasteurisation process.

It also features a crown metal cap.

Amcor Brazil business development director Felipe Salles said the technology is the first for pasteurised beer in Brazil.

“As the craft beer market grows, we are partnering with brewers to achieve attractive designs and cost savings with PET bottles, while also meeting shelf-life requirements,” Salles said.

“PET bottles offer design advantages over glass while being lighter weight, more easily and safely portable, and unbreakable, and provide the required barrier protection,” Amcor Brazil research and development manager Rodolfo Salles added.

Amcor uses an oxygen scavenger barrier additive to prevent oxygen ingress and egress, providing the product with up to four months of shelf life.

According to the company, the bottle is compatible with existing recycling streams and is 100 per cent recyclable.

The lightweight containers are also said to “significantly reduce” transportation costs as well as energy and CO2 emission reductions along the supply chain.

New Age Bebidas president Fabio Violin said innovation and differentiation are the name of the game in the craft beer market in Brazil.

“The flexibility of PET packaging allows us to develop a unique replacement for glass that will deliver broad consumer appeal throughout Latin America,” Violin added.

The company has undertaken a pre-market trial of the product in select cities in the state of São Paulo.

At the time of writing, Amcor’s shares were trading at $15.57.