— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Mineral spring bottler Adelholzener Alpenquellen (Siegsdorf, Germany; www.adelholzener.de) commissioned a new filling line for single-use PET bottles on 2 July. With this tenth line at the Chiemgau site, the company is significantly expanding its filling capacities and responding to the increased demand for single-use PET bottles.

The line was installed by Krones (Neutraubling, Germany; www.krones.com) and has a capacity of 36,000 bottles per hour, and thus a possible annual production of up to 100 mn PET bottles. The system is primarily designed for bottling mineral water in 0.5 litre and 1 litre containers. However, the line can also produce spritzers and sweet drinks if required, the company said.

With this investment – the amount of which was not disclosed – Adelholzener said it is responding to the growing demand in the ‘on-the-go’ market. From January to June 2025 alone, the mineral water and soft drink bottler increased sales by around 6% compared with the same period previous year. With the new single-use PET line, Adelholzener now has a total of three lines each for container types PET-Einweg (single-use), PET-Mehrweg (returnable), and Glas-Mehrweg (returnable glass).

Despite the expansion of its single-use capacities, reusable packaging remains central to the company. Around 80% of the 709 mn bottles filled last year were sold in returnable containers – a figure that is well above the German industry average of around 30%.

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The proportion of recycled material in non-returnable PET bottles is around 30%; returnable PET bottles that are taken out of circulation are reprocessed for the production of new preforms.

Adelholzener has been owned by the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul for over 115 years. The company’s proceeds are channelled into social projects run by the religious order, which operates hospitals and retirement homes, among other things.

— Translated by Elspeth Lenhard