PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2019

CAPS & CLOSURES 18 PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 01+02/19 www.petpla.net Voices from the industry on the EU strategy paper on Single Use Plastics Future challenges in cap handling Dr Michael Krüger, CEO Corvaglia Group “Marine littering is a severe problem that requires action urgently. So I definitely welcome that the EU has taken action by proposing and passing a directive on the topic. It seems as if a lot of the changes that will be enforced make a lot of sense to help reduce marine littering. Unfortunately, the article that enforces caps to remain attached to the container does not make sense – neither ecologically nor economically. We estimate that in the worst case this requirement will increase CO 2 emissions from beverage packages by as much as 400,000 tons CO 2 equivalent per year in the EU with minimal to zero positive impact on marine litter- ing. The EU commission seems to expect such minimal impact them- selves, if I interpret their impact assessment correctly. With the vast amount of money industry – and finally consumers – will have to spend on implementing the required changes, I am sure much better options could have been realised to reduce marine littering. It will be painful for a lot of stakeholders and distract companies from other valu- able developments, but of course the directive can be implemented.” “The most impactful develop- ment in my opinion was when multimodal resin technology was introduced to organoleptic HDPEs for use in caps and closure applications. It just helped everyone in the industry to accelerate the speed of light- weighting at same or better closure performance, particularly for CSD applications. While introduction took place already several years ago, we only experience the full benefits on a broad scale since recent years.” www.corvaglia.com Michael Fink, Vice President z-moulds “The fact itself that the EU is working on such a guideline is important and absolutely positive, but the outcome itself is not totally uncontroversial. Tethering the caps to the bottles to ensure that they find their way to the recycling sta- tion is trying to solve the issue with- out involving the people. Education might be a better way to ensure the proper handling. Technologi- cal there are different ways on the one hand we have some simple solutions available to ensure that the bottler fulfils the requirements of the law, but most of them are not really convenient for the end-users and therefore will mostly be used as a interims solution. In my opinion the implementation is possible, but the final impact is not clear today. For example so far we just know the cap needs to be tethered to the bottle, but nothing describes how strong!” “As a mould supplier I tend to focus on the mould technologies when answering such a ques- tion, therefore I think our patented z-slides system is definitely one of the biggest game changers in the past years for the bever- age closure manufactur- ers. On the closure side itself I would say the trend of lowering opening torques as well as improving the haptic properties for better grip, while opening, brought some good changes.” www.z-moulds.com As a regular reader of PETplanet Insider you will know that our editors travel around the world keeping their eyes and ears on the ground to pick up all the relevant, hot topics of the day: for nearly six months discus- sions on the EU strategy paper on Single Use Plastics, which includes the handling of caps in a circular economy, has been causing shock waves in the sector, -culminating in a written statement from October 2018 in which the major players, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Danone and Pepsico expressed the view that,: “investments should be directed into technology and infrastructure that will achieve a collection rate of 90% of bottles and their caps by 2025.” In a widespread deposit return system, a higher level of responsibility from producers, and a pan-European con- sumer education program, these key players see a more effective means of preventing the littering of beverage caps. Prior to the EU vote on Article 6, it is the moment for us to ask caps- and mould producers about their assessment of the proposed EU regulation and the consequences that might ensue if it is passed into law. We have therefore collected the views of producers such as Beri- cap, Corvaglia, Sacmi, United Caps and z-moulds, and we are grateful to Husky for adding their comments reflecting the Canadian and US point of view!