PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2020

CAPS & CLOSURES 9 PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 01+02/20 www.petpla.net 9 been developed for a multitude of closures, includ- ing the next-generation lightweight 26/22 neck. PETplanet: So, what is the secret enabling all these tethered closure solutions to be designed for standard necks? Reimann: The secret lies in the material. The design has to be precisely fine-tuned, there is not much safety space left. If you look for example at the active hinge design, these are much easier to realise with more material. For a fine-tuned solu- tion, the material has to be sturdy but with good flow characteristics. PETplanet: The lasso design is a double-slotted TE-band design. When looking at this flexible solu- tion, one could easily imagine that the closure could annoy the consumer while drinking, which could result in it being torn off. Hoffmann-Leist: Bringing together standards and user-friendly design with integration into the supply chain is actually a balancing act. We are therefore carrying out several consumer studies and have had the three tethered versions tested. Each alteration is difficult because consumers will open the bottle in the way they are used to opening bottles. There are also significant regional differences here. In some countries, screw-tops are preferred, and consumers are skeptical about using hinge caps; in other countries these caps are much more common. But from the feedback, we understood that user- friendliness has been certified for all three solutions. Reimann: What’s special about the lasso cap is that we designed it in such a way that it does not dangle in the consumer’s face during drink- ing. Alongside safety, intuitive use and reliability, “convenience” is one of the four standards that the brand owner stipulated for the caps. But here too, the material side is enormously important because there must be a guarantee that the cap cannot simply be ripped off. The great advantage of the lasso design is that existing moulds could still be used. PETplanet: Besides these tethered caps, you have also designed a tethered closure concept from recycled material. What is this about? Trocherie: In the cap sector, incorporating the use of recycled material has long been difficult because of the contact with food. What we have designed for K fair is a prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of the production chain from mixed plastic waste to an end application. We used feedstock made from post-consumer plastic waste. Using our proprietary molecular recycling technology MoReTec, we converted this waste to oil to produce ethylene and then polyethylene in one of our pro- duction assets. This product has the same physical properties as conventional plastics derived from petrochemicals. PETplanet: Thank you for the interesting dis- cussion! CAPS & CLOSURES www.sacmi.com With 30 years of experience and 15,000 stacks a year, SACMI is the world’s biggest producer of moulds for the beverage industry. Product design, mould development and direct testing on SACMI machines ensure an all-round service of unrivalled quality. Product design Product development Product validation Industrial production plant Process & quality control On-site and start-up assistance After-sales and Customer service SACMI 4.0 THE COMPLETE CLOSURE, PREFORM AND CONTAINER SOLUTION FOR YOUR SMART FACTORY 30 years of putting things together perfectly to create ƤVWX GPEWW TVSHYGXW s ve Pr