PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2014

CAPPING / CLOSURES 25 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 09/14 www.petpla.net Reuseable caps for PET bottles Thinking caps on Clever Pack’s new bottle cap is reusable and designed to be easy to use even by those who find bottles hard to open, such as those afflicted with arthritis. Clever Caps, which were created by two Brazilian inven- tors and are being marketed by a company named Clever Packs, are designed to be ‘compatible with building blocks available on the market’ – Lego-style blocks, in short. They are also compatible with commercial bottle necks including the PCO 1881 standard - but many other sizes and shapes are in the development pipeline. The novel caps are clearly bigger than conventional caps, which may seem strange when the trend is towards lightweighting. “Recycling is good. Reusing is even better,” said Cláudio Patrick Vollers, inventor and Clever Pack CEO. He maintains that Clever Caps incorporate the “three Ecodesign sus- tainability pillars” (ecologically sound, socially just and economically viable) but they go further, by incorporat- ing the concept of immediate reuse. “There is no need to recycle Clever Caps. They can have an immediate ‘second life’, without additional energy consumption, nor the emission of pol- luting gases and residues.” The first and clearest reuse is by linking them with building blocks, which greatly extends their range of subsequent uses and also reduces the risk that they would become a passing trend or a piece of junk that people will keep for a while and then throw away. They can be turned into works of art, Smart- Phone stands, light shades or even children’s toys. However, if they did not have immediate benefits then they could be viewed as a bit gimmicky. The inventors say that Clever Caps are more “friendly” to the elderly, children and physically disadvantaged. The larger diameter and the rings, or “ears” at the base offer a slightly greater leverage for rotating the tops to open or close bottles. They can also be connected to a second Clever Cap, which doubles the radius in relation to the rotation axis and dramati- cally reduces the force needed to rotate the bottle top. This makes them easier and more accessible to the elderly, those suffering from arthritis or similar impair- ment, or to children. The producers claim that Clever Caps are also safer than standard closures, which are 31mm diameter; Clever Caps are 31.8mm and the four ”ears’ take their operational width to over 40mm. This enables them to pass the standard “Choke Test”, which uses a cylinder 31.7mm diameter. In their first version, the caps are made of PP, but according to the developers, PE is also possible. Clever Caps were nominated by the London Design Museum as one of the 76 “Designs Of The Year”, were recognised with two IF Packaging Design Awards in Germany, and two Embanews Awards in Brazil. Clever Pack intends to expand through licensing its portfolio of patents and industrial designs to national and foreign companies. Clever Caps were launched in the bottled water sector. www.cleverpack.com.br In their first version, the caps are made of PP but an imple- mentation in PE is also possible The reusable bottle caps are compatible with commercial bottle necks including the PCO 1881 standard. The Clever Packs are designed to be compatible with most popular building blocks available on the market.