Apparatus and method for discharging spouted containers

A discharge apparatus for discharging a plurality of flexible spouted containers from a tubular storage assembly, the discharge apparatus comprising:

• a support element with an elongated opening for carrying a row of spouts of a plurality of spouted containers from an inlet to an outlet, wherein the support element is configured to receive successive batches of spouted containers in the elongated opening;
• a biasing unit configured to move at least a subset of the spouts in the elongated opening in the support element towards the outlet, the biasing unit including:
• a rotatable biasing element including a plurality of pusher elements and at least one of the pusher elements engages the spout and applies the biasing force to the subset of the spouts;
• and
• a drive motor configured to rotate the biasing element;
• and
• wherein the biasing unit configured to continuously apply a biasing force to the subset of spouts to continuously urge the containers towards the outlet,
• wherein the storage assembly comprises a plurality of elongated guiding elements onto which a plurality of rows of dispensing spouts can be carried,
• wherein the guiding elements are configured to be maintained in a substantially tubular arrangement while the containers extend in a generally helical trajectory in the interior formed by the tubular arrangement.