Castrol rolls out new packaging in Europe

Castrol has unveiled new designs for its range of top-up lubricant bottles in Europe, which use up to 20% less plastic in some bottles. The newly designed bottles come in half-litre, one-litre, four-litre and five-litre sizes and have been available to all automotive workshops and retailers from September 2023. They come with the additional benefit of being more compact on the shelf and easier to transport compared to the previous bottles.

The introduction of the newly designed bottles is part of Castrol’s delivery of its PATH360 sustainability strategy that sets out aims to help save waste, reduce carbon and improve lives. The company’s new five-litre bottle in Europe uses 20% less plastic compared to the previous five-litre bottle, one of the best-selling products in the Castrol range.

Since 2019, the new bottles were introduced in several of Castrol’s international markets, including China and India, enabling the company to use 4,000 tonnes of less plastic when compared to the previous small bottle designs. In Europe, the new bottles are expected to save around 1,000 tonnes of plastic per annum compared to the previous small bottle designs and aggregated across the full bottle range.

For the five-litre bottle, sharp bottle corners have been turned into clever ridges designed for extra strength and resilience, and the overall bottle shapes have also been optimised to allow more bottles to fit on pallets and shelves. This focus on space optimisation, including the repositioning of the handle to the corner, means 28% more cartons containing four-litre bottles can now fit on a single pallet. Similarly, 36 cartons containing five-litre bottles can now fit on a single pallet, compared to 28 cartons before.

A series of features, including a tamper-evident cap with an embossed Castrol logo and a heat seal have been added to protect the integrity of the products and provide additional reassurance to customers that the bottles contain genuine Castrol lubricants and fluids.

Marc Perkins, Sales Manager UK&I at Castrol, said: “As the mobility sector and wider industry transition towards a more sustainable future, customers want greater choice and increasingly sustainable solutions. The new packaging goes hand-in-hand with that and with our new brand identity. Together, they signal Castrol’s commitment to investing in the future and creating new opportunities for growth and success, while meeting the changing needs of our customers.”

For further information on Castrol’s refreshed brand, please visit: www.castrol.com/forward