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CPS University | Bottleology 101
CPSU: Learn more about styles, types, materials, and terms
Bottles come in many different shapes and styles to fit your product's unique application. On this page you will learn the different styles and types of bottles and for what they are commonly used. At any time, feel free to call 1-800-473-4144 to speak with an expert.
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CanisterThe canister is typically made of plastic and has a wide mouth and equally wide base. It's profile is straight and has a labeling panel. Common uses include: energy powders, health supplements, powdered beverages, cleaning cloths, candy/food storage, dried meats and more. |
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CylinderThe cylinder is a tall bottle with straight shoulders, straight base, and a straight profile. The cylinder's orifice is narrower than the circumference of the body. Common uses include: shampoos, conditioners, lotions, chemicals, travel-size personal care items, cleaners, sprayers, and more. |
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DairyThe dairy-style is made of thin yet durable plastic, is not round in shape and has a handle. The dairy-style containers often have textured surfaces around the handle to aid in gripping and holding the container. Common uses include: milk, juice, chemicals, cleaners, water, and other beverages. |
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F-StyleThe f-style family of containers are made of a heavy durable plastic. The most characteristic feature of the f-style is the large hollow handle on the top of the bottle next to the bottle orifice. Common uses include: industrial and automotive chemicals and cleaners, fertilizers, detergents, and weed killers.. |
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French SquareThe french square is an elegant container. The french square has four sides where all seams and corners both inside and out are rounded. This gives the bottle a heavy weight and creates a slight visual distortion of the product inside. Common uses include: soaps, lotions, bath salts, powders, beverages, and crafts. |
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HexThe hex is a six-sided container typically made of glass. The hex, unlike the french square, has sharp-angled seams and gives the contained product a more prismic appearance. Common uses include: jams, jellies, sauces, salsas, food products, lotions, candles, gels, and creams. |
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JarJars typically have wide mouths. The single wall is made of a continuous piece of plastic. The double wall is hollow and has a shell around the inner piece. The thick or heavy wall, like the single wall, is made of a single piece of plastic, but uses more resin. Common uses include: lotions, creams, personal care items, preserves, and jams. |
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OvalThe oval is a fairly broad group and can include really any treatment on the shoulders: rounded, square or otherwise. An oval is primarily defined by the elliptical base. If the bottle does not have a perfectly round base, it is considered to be an oval. Common uses include: personal care products. |
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PackerThe packer or "pill packer" is typically made of rigid plastic (PET, PS, HDPE) and typically has rounded shoulders and a relatively square base. It can come in clear, white, amber, blue, black, and more colors. Common uses include: pills, health supplements, capsules, losenges and more. |
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Boston RoundThe boston round is a style with broad appeal. The boston round has rounded shoulders and an almost equally rounded base. They are shorter and more squat in appearance. Common uses include: personal care products, industrial products, home care products, cleaners, cleansers, shampoos, lotions. |
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Imperial/Bullet/Cosmo RoundThe imperial is an elegantly-shaped bottle. Characteristic to the imperial (sometimes called a bullet or cosmo) are the steep tapered shoulders, relatively square base, and the tall, slender profile. Common uses include: personal care, cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, creams, oils, room sprays. |
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Plastique/Diamond/Royal RoundThe plastique (also called a diamond or royal) round is a style that sits in between the boston and imperial rounds. It is not as tall or slender as the imperial, neither is it as squat as the boston round. Common uses include: personal care, cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, creams, oils, room sprays. |
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Industrial RoundThe defining characteristics of an industrial round are the handle and the labeling panel. The industrial round typically has a raised ring around the base of the bottle and the base of the handle. Common uses include: chemicals, cleaners, automobile products, anitfreeze, solvents, sauces (ketchup, mustard) and more. |
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Modern RoundThe modern round has sharply angled shoulders and a label panel. The label panel is the indentation between the ring around the base and the ring around the shoulders. Common uses include: hydrogen peroxide containers, chemical containers, pharmaceuticals, solvents, acids and more. |
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Sunset RoundThe sunset round is a unique container and is specifically designed for a special cap. The sunset has a shallow groove in the shoulders for the bottom skirt of a lid to rest. The result is a capsule-shaped container/closure combination. Common uses include: lotions, personal care products, creams and more. |
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TubThe tub is a container with a large mouth-opening, tapered sides and a smaller base. This shape makes the container nestable. Tubs can be clear, natural, or white colored. Common uses include: butter containers, salsas, salads, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, dairy products, jams, jellies, and more. |
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Are you a sustainable organization? The sustainability efforts of communities, governments, and companies are rising. A large retailer has developed a Sustainability Index. Its goals are to create a more transparent supply chain, drive product innovation and provide customers with inform... |
What plastic type is best for my product? We get this question all the time: what should I put my product in? A client has a product with a special list of ingredients that may or may not require a specific plastic type , and they just need to know from us, the plastic experts, the definitive... |
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Fluorination: Your bottle can take the pressure Paneling. If you don't gasp when you hear this word, you will when you know what it means. According to Terminology 101 at CPS University , paneling is the: distortion of a plastic container that occurs during aging or storage, caused by the developm... |
What is sustainable packaging and how do I do it? It's official. Sustainable packaging has matured from fad to trend, according to experts. What is sustainable packaging and how can small, medium and large businesses adapt? Fortunate for us, there is a coalition of sustainable packaging experts who c... |
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CPS University: Packaging Expertise at your Fingertips Packaging is a big industry. Nearly everything you buy is packaged in something. Choosing the right kind of packaging for your product can be very difficult. Will my product interact poorly with this container? Is this plastic the right kind of plast... |
What are the 6 main plastic (resin) types? There are really 6 major plastic types: HDPE , LDPE , PP, PVC, PET and PS. Please see Plasticology 101 for how these plastics are used, what recycling streams they can enter, properties like clarity and temperature thresholds and other great reso... |
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Defining "Green" As the sustainability, organic, and natural products movements continue to grow, so does the list of vocabulary terms. Read below for definitions on related terminology. Biodegradable: The ability of a material to be broken down by natural processes... |
Containers for essential oils Essential oils are a natural way to infuse your products with aromatic and medicinal uniqueness. Essential oils are concentrated compounds extracted from plants and can pack a punch not only in aromatic intensity, but in your container. To prevent dete... |
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Why we need packaging Packaging and labeling have several objectives: Physical protection - The product may require protection from shock, temperature, or compression. Bodyguards are not a cost effective way to go. Barrier protection - The product may require protec... |
CPS: A Safe and Secure Place to Shop Our website is a safe and secure place to shop. We partner with three different organizations to reassure our customers that we are a legitimate business, that we are a safe place to shop, and that we have a secure system for handling their personal in... |
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We reuse boxes In order to do our part to keep landfills as ecologically friendly as possible, we often order misprinted corrugated boxes from a local box manufacturer. These boxes would end up in landfills without ever being used, so we buy these boxes to ensure the... |
How are plastics made? Plastics consist of building blocks called hydrocarbons, typically derived from petroleum or natural gas. These monomers (small molecules) are bonded into chains called polymers or plastic resins. Different combinations of monomers yield resins with sp... |
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Canning 101: The Cold Pack Method Raw pack normally refers to placing uncooked meat or fish into a canning jar, while a cold pack normally refers to fruits and vegetables. In some recipes the raw or cold pack methods are recommended and for others the hot-pack method is more appropriat... |
Canning 101: The Hot Pack Method For hot pack method, the product is cooked in advance and, while still hot, is packed into hot jars. The contents and the jars remain at a high temperature throughout the entire process. Remember that processing adds to the cooking time! You may think ... |
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What is thermosetting? A thermoset is a polymer that solidifies irreversibly when heated. Similar to the relationship between a raw and a cooked egg, once heated, a thermoset polymer can't be softened again; the egg can't reverts back to its original form. During the ini... |
What is a thermoplastic? The term, thermoplastics mean that once the polymer is formed, it can be heated and reformed over and over again. The molecules are held together by weak secondary bonding forces that causes the plastic to soften when exposed to light and return back t... |
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The history of plastic In today's world, life without plastics is incomprehensible. Whether you are aware of it or not, plastics have become a familiar part of our lives, where these organic polymeric materials play a vital role in the modern society. Plastic's versatility a... |
Plastics: Landfills and Incineration How do modern landfills protect the environment? The purpose of solid waste management is to remove wastes from living areas in a way that protects human health and the environment. Landfills fulfill this mission by sealing wastes away from the surround... |
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Plastics and Energy Efficiency Can plastics actually save energy? Yes. And they use less energy than you might think: the raw materials that go into the production of plastics account for only 1.5 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. In addition, it often takes less energy to... |
Benefits of Plastics Performance All Wrapped Up When the packaging questions are tough, plastics are often the answer. Sometimes they are the only answer, performing tasks no other materials can perform and providing consumers with products and services no other material... |
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Glass made for candles Avoid burning candles in any glass item not specifically designed for candles. Glass candle holders are specifically manufactured to withstand the temperature changes that occur when burning a candle. Everyday glassware is not designed for burning cand... |
Heat Induction Seals are Tamper-Evident Induction sealing, otherwise known as cap sealing, is a non-contact method of heating a metallic disk to hermetically seal (airtight seal) the top of plastic and glass containers. After the cap is applied, the container passes under an induction coil, ... |
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Mythbusters: Busting Myths about Plastics Several myths about plastics have emerged over the last decade that may alarm the public without just cause and potentially harm consumer-friendly companies producing needed products. Urban myths spring from any number of sources, including: (1) Enviro... |
Resin Prices WERE Up The rumors were true. Plastic resin prices went up ... but then they came back down. Way down. The plastic resins market for 2008 climbed steadily from January to June, realizing an approximated average price increase of 30 percent. Over the second h... |
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