Collapsible lightweight container

Abstract

The present invention concerns a container suitable for packing and dispensing a non-flowable food product. The container has a collapsible container body and a container neck with a dispensing opening. The container body also has an internal volume (V1) when the body is in fully compressed configuration and an internal volume (V2) when the body is in a fully expanded configuration. Advantageously, (i) the container is manufactured by injection-blowing process out of a thermoplastic material such as polyethyleneterephtalate (PET), polyethylenenaphtalate (PEN), polyethyleneterephtalateglycol (PETG), polypropylene (PP),or a combination thereof, (ii) the body walls have a thickness not higher than 100 μm, and (iii) the ratio V1/V2 is lower than, or equal to, 0.05.

1 .- 6 . (canceled) 
   
   
       7 . A container suitable for packing and dispensing a viscous food product, comprising:
 a collapsible container body and a container neck with a dispensing opening, the container body having an internal volume V1 when the body is in fully compressed configuration and an internal volume V2 when the body is in a fully expanded configuration,   wherein: (i) the container is manufactured by injection-blowing process out of a thermoplastic material chosen from the group consisting of polyethyleneterephtalate (PET), polyethylenenaphtalate (PEN), polyethyleneterephtalateglycol (PETG), polypropylene (PP), or a combination thereof, (ii) the walls of the container body have a thickness not higher than 100 μm, and (iii) the ratio V1 A/2 is lower than, or equal to, 0.05.   
   
   
       8 . The container of  claim 7 , wherein the container body comprises upper and lower halves, with the lower half being sufficiently flexible and shaped as to be foldable upwards into the upper half, in order to collapse entirely the container body. 
   
   
       9 . The container of  claim 8 , wherein the lower half of the container body comprises at least one helical groove or at least one helical ridge extending at least once around the whole circumference of the container body. 
   
   
       10 . The container of  claim 7 , wherein the container body comprises a plurality of flexible bellows that allow collapsing of the container body along an axis that is substantially coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the container. 
   
   
       11 . The container of  claim 7 , for carrying a non-flowable food product that has a viscosity index of 1000 to 50000 centipoises. 
   
   
       12 . The container of  claim 7 , for carrying a non-flowable food product that has a viscosity index of 3000 to 35000 centipoises. 
   
   
       13 . The container of  claim 12 , wherein the non-flowable food product is a chilled or shelf-stable dairy product, or an ice-cream, soft ice cream, or culinary food product.