PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

CAPPING / CLOSURES 36 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net Bericap launches leightweight SuperShorty closure in North America It’s a lightweight Bericap single-piece SuperShorty closures and lighter weight finishes under the new PCO 1881 global standard are designed to avoid potentially damaging down-pressure. Six SuperShorty variants are available, covering customer preferences for external cap appearance, tamper evidence and the beverage being bottled. The recently-developed global industry standard for a lighter weight thread finish on single and multi-serve plastic bot- tles - designated PCO 1881 - is being rapidly adopted by bottlers of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) throughout North America. Bericap has recently completed its 30th filling line conversion from traditional two-piece closures to its one- piece DoubleSeal 1881 SuperShorty closure. Across the world, Bericap has converted over 100 filling lines to the new 1881 standard and has further conversions already scheduled. The transition brings a weight reduction of 20% in the dispensing system (the closure and the finish, the area that the closure is applied to on a bottle). Traditional 1810 systems weigh 8.0g while the new 1881 system is just 6.22g. The new standard saves mil- lions of pounds of plastic packaging, according to Dave Andison, President and COO of Bericap North Amer- ica. “This means significantly fewer resources are needed to manufacture and distribute product, leading to a reduced carbon footprint and ongoing sustainability advantages.” Developing a global industry standard PCO 1881 is the first new CSD finish standard in about 20 years. It was developed by the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), which represents more than 800 beverage industry profession- als in over 21 countries. Beverage manufacturers, bottlers and suppliers agreed that significant weight could be taken out of the thread area of soft drink bottles and worked together to define specifics and gain acceptance. Bericap North America’s Terry Rochfort co-chaired the ISBT subcom- mittee for the three-year international effort, which generated specifications that now are being voluntarily imple- mented globally. About 70% of bottler lines in N America have already been converted to the new standard. “The new standard’s rapid, industry-wide acceptance reflects the success of ISBT developers in focusing on mate- rial and weight reduction, while retain- ing other important package attributes in production and consumer accept- ance.” Andison said. One of the most critical issues with CSD is a tight closure seal to keep CO 2 locked in, so the beverage doesn’t go flat. Another concern for bottlers is distortion of the neck during closure application, which can lead to as much as 2% or more of rejected product. Bericap’s DoubleSeal technology is designed to enable its SuperShorty to resolve both of those issues. Lighter weight finish Two-piece liner-and-shell top seal closures demand a significant amount of torque in order to achieve a proper seal. “The resulting down-pressure is