15-20 years of developments in oriented PP clear bottles have met with very little success. Of course, significant changes have occurred in the same period in terms of polymer development, additives and equipment. OPP bottles have recently emerged as an alternate option to PET because of: lower weight, lower cost, improved clarity, better heat resistance and thus ideal suitability for hot feeling. Some of the recent developments have made it possible for OPP bottles to participate in the clear plastics container market.

The newer metallocene PP grades developed by Basell Polyolefins with excellent organoleptic properties and lower migration characteristics have improved the performance of OPP bottles against food and medical product packaging. The fourth generation clarifier Millad 3988 from Milliken Chemical along with metallocene random copolymers has reduced the haze to almost 1.5 level, very similar to PET. Material development has also improved the processing window by about 5 degreeC compared to the earlier grades. The processing window of OPP is not as wide as that of PET, but has improved to make OPP manufacturing little more tolerant. Equipment manufacturers have been able to design their two stage as well single stage injection stretch blow moulding machines to overcome the earlier problems of heating and cooling of PP performs. OPP bottles can now be highly competitive when processed on high-speed, rotary reheat SBM machines such as those made by Sidel, SIG Corpoplast and others. Competing equipment suppliers, however, argue that one-stage ISBM machines and in-line reheat SBM machines are also viable alternatives.

One of the few companies making OPP bottles in North America is Container Corp. of Canada (CCC). CCI promoted OPP EnviroClear bottles as "uni-polymer" packages in which the OPP body is combined with a PP cap, tamper-evident ring and sleeve label in a fully reclaimable, all-PP system. OPP bottles are also positioned as moisture barrier, squeezeable and hot-fillable for flavored water. OPP bottles are also used for dry powders and hot-filled foods that require a moisture barrier, like mayonnaise. CCC's hot-fillable OPP bottles cost around 35% less than heat-set PET bottles.

While all the problems have not yet ironed out, it seems that OPP bottle this time would be more successful and may be able to make some dent into the market of PET.