PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2021

CAPS & CLOSURES 35 PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 06/21 www.petpla.net Slitting and folding of tamper evident bands for tethered caps Tethered caps & TE bands - design solutions New legislation in the European Union requires that by July 2024, all plastic closures must remain “tethered” (attached) to single-use beverage containers after the container is opened. This will bring a big change for the beverage packaging industry. One of Packsys Global’s core competences focuses on the slitting and folding of tamper evident bands. The company has developed multiple solutions to solve the tethered requirements. The upcoming European directive requires that plastic caps must remain attached to containers during con- sumption. This means a change to the creation of the tamper evident band. In addition to the protection that custom- ers expect against tampering, closures will need to have even more complex cutting geometry to give both protection against tampering and keep the closure on the package. For a long time Packsys Global AG has produced machines which roll the cap along a knife with a specific pres- sure to create a straight cut around the cap perimeter. Before the EU legisla- tion was enacted, the company was already working on developing slitting solutions which would not only fulfill the regulations but are regarded to have a positive impact on our planet. Today a significant amount of plastic closures can be found in our planet’s oceans. The EU legislation is based on the idea recognises that since there is a high rate of bottle recycling if the closure stays on the bottle the recycling rate for closures should rise and reduce future pollution. Tethered closure designs need to vary in order to match individual applications and beverage container specifications. The machine manufac- turer has designed solutions that can be implemented into existing and new machines of the company’s range. For most applications closure producers do not need to invest in new machines. Consumers can benefit from the protec- tion of traditional tamper evident (TE) closures and help the environment by having the closure tethered as well. SmarTether This technology offers a combina- tion of various cutting segments to create perforation lines for the TE band and the tether function. This can be simple horizontal cutting, or it can be combined with multiple vertical or diago- nal slit lines. It purposely leaves a thin and controllable skin in defined sections of the separation lines. It supports in the capping process and will easily break at the first opening. The technology can be applied on all existing major PET bottle closure applications. It delivers a high- performance tethered closure suitable for high-speed capping processes. ExperTether Lightweight plastic closures require a perfect support of the knives during the slitting process. A continuous support on both sides of the knives is important. ExperTether and SmarTether can both be used for the same cutting line pattern. With ExperTether the entire slit contour is 100% cut through – including the vertical and diagonal section. This is done by perfect synchronisation of the rotat- ing spindles to the fixed slitting knives. Independent of the machine speed, the synchronised inner and outer tooling pro- vide unique slit accuracy for customised slitting patterns for the tethered feature. Both the TE band and the tethered fea- ture are processed on same mechanical cutting technology. CapCompass This feature is a method to bring a closure, when first opened, to a position which is locked and does not disturb the consumer while they are drink- ing. Gable top or other carton packag- ing applications are major markets for this processing method. Whether it’s a pre-moulded hinge, the thread start, an embossing, or some other feature, the slit lines can be positioned for function- ality and/or marketing purposes. Cap- Compass is made for cutting closures at the right place and could be com- bined with the other two technologies additionally to TE band slitting. www.packsysglobal.com Ueli Kobel, Product Manager Closures, Packsys Global