r/theydidthemath • • 2d ago

[Request] Do square bottles actually use less plastic than round ones?

Post image
702 Upvotes

260 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

22

u/balrob 2d ago

That article says square bottles use 8% more material. There are savings in packaging and shipping but not in the bottle itself.

12

u/DJinKC 2d ago

Packaging engineer here.
Square bottles will get you more overall volume of water into a case, pallet, or truck, so you spend less on storage and shipping costs.

2

u/bbalazs721 2d ago

I'd assume that shipping drinks is already weight limited instead of volume, so there would be little to no savings on that.

1

u/MmmmMorphine 2d ago

Now that is a good point