South Africa's council for scientific and industrial research has developed a new barrier coating known as “Oxyplete”, with barrier properties reported to be 30 times better than PET.
PET is one of the fastest growing sectors of the beverage bottling market, taking over from glass and cans as the container of choice. Its use has been mainly limited to carbonated fizzy drinks and water. PET, however, is not very good at keeping oxygen and other gases from permeating the container. This results in reduction of shelf life of such beverages as juices, teas and flavoured water. Oxygen has a degrading effect on flavour, colour and vitamin content for many beverages. 

Oxyplete performs better than any other passive barrier currently available. The costs compare favourably and are competitive with other barrier technologies in the market. Oxyplete is suitable for demanding applications such as hot or cold filling for beer and baby food packaging. 
The technology is based on a double-layered outside coating. Before it is applied, the surface of the plastic is activated, which is achieved through either an oxyfluorination process, corona discharge or plasma treatment, followed by conventional spray or dip coating and drying.  The coating is aesthetically attractive and can be applied to different thermoplastics such as PET and PP. Since the coating is applied in a second, separate step, it is not necessary to have a dedicated production line for barrier packaging. As the barrier properties are situated in the thin coating, the properties of the base polymer become almost irrelevant, allowing more freedom in the selection of materials.

A portion of normal production can be diverted for treatment. This is important for those countries that haves a relatively small market for barrier packaging. Many high barrier applications require multi layered packaging, combining PET with high barrier plastics such as Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol or Polyamide 6. They require higher capital cost, and recycling of the containers poses problems. Oxyplete barrier coating is a cost effective solution.