New beverage STEALTH CAP saves 600 tons of plastic per year!

Last updated 4 years ago by pi-Team

Cost reduction through reduction of plastic in beverage closures

PACCOR is currently launching a new generation of lighter plastic bottle closures with a new design. The closures use more than 13% less plastic. This enables bottling companies to save material and make a better contribution to protecting the environment.

Due to the clear economic and ecological advantages of this innovation, PACCOR has already begun to apply the principles of this design and the associated innovative technologies in its complete IML product line.

Savings of 600 tons of plastic per year

“The weight reduction of each cap by 13% corresponds to approximately 600 tons of plastic, based on our current annual production of these closures in conventional design,” says PACCOR’s international sales director Jürgen Lehmann.

The current production capacity of the closure supplier is 3 billion caps per year.

“Based on PACCOR’s current market share of around 85% of the UK market for milk bottle closures, the savings potential is several million euros per year,” Lehmannn added.

Lighter closures for bottles and beverage cartons

PACCOR has made significant investments at its Mansfield plant in the United Kingdom. These were made available for sufficient resources and efforts in the development and market maturity of the new Continuous Compression Moulded Caps (CCM) project.

As a result of these efforts over several years, the company launched its new innovative “Stealth Caps” in March 2019. These weigh now only 1.3 g in comparison to the predecessor model, which was also very light with 1.5 g.

That’s a saving of about 13%. And compared to the old traditional closures with 2.2 g plastic per cap, the savings are even 41%.

Improved cap design

At the same time, the knurling of the screw cap was optimized. This allows consumers to open containers more easily and with less effort, contributing to a positive consumer experience.

In general, PACCOR’s strategy is to develop highly innovative products in terms of design, material and functionality and to establish them on the market. The new, lighter plastic closures are just one example.

One of the leading European manufacturers of dairy products was the first customer to use the new “Stealth Caps”.

Conversion to new closures without modification of the machines

In the meantime, practically all PACCOR customers are converting to the new bottle closures. As a rule, the changeover to the new closures takes place without major changes to the machines.

During development, the engineers took care to keep all essential dimensions in line with the current standard. Therefore, no significant adjustments or conversions are necessary in the filling plants for the existing filling machines and capping machines as well as for the cap conveyors.

New moulds and tools for the production of closures

At the supplier of the closures themselves, the process of rebuilding the moulds and the tooling continues steadily.

“At present, 70% of the tools and moulds for the machines in production at PACCOR have already been rebuilt for the new closure. The project will continue until all moulds and tools are converted,” says Lehmann.

Next generation of lightweight closures

But the supplier of plastic closures and other packaging containers is not resting on its laurels. The design and engineering team has already begun with the first concepts for the next generation of these closures.

Ashley Jones, Managing Director of PACCOR UK says: “This kind of innovative approach is essential to ensure our market leadership. Only in this way can we continue to offer our customers attractive added value and benefits at reduced costs in the future”.

The company has already begun to apply the principles of STEALTH CAPS design and production to other products. For example for cans for creams as well as for other products made by plastic injection moulding.

Continuous reduction of plastic consumption

PACCOR, based in Mansfield, Great Britain, will reduce the consumption of plastics to a greater extent as a result of this development. And this without compromising the performance of its products in the supply chain. At the same time, consumers should be offered a better product experience.

In this way, the company intends to further expand its market position and at the same time contribute to the reduction of plastic waste.

Topic: New lightweight closures for plastic beverage bottles. Cost reduction for beverage producers and reduction of plastic waste. UK dairy plastic cap supplier.

Source: PACCOR press release and own research.
Picture credits: ©2019 Paccor.com