CAPS & CLOSURES 18 PETplanet Insider Vol. 24 No. 03/23 www.petpla.net “Sustainability in production is essential for us” PETplanet spoke to Michael Krueger, CEO at Corvaglia and Chair at Cetie, about the current production situation and the standardised regulations on tethered cap. Michael Krueger, CEO at Corvaglia and Chair at Cetie CAPS & CLOSURES PETplanet: After the beverage industry had come through the pandemic relatively unscathed, new challenges followed due to the war in Ukraine. Did you have an impact on your business? Krueger: Yes, we had an impact on our business. The most important challenge was the sharp increase of energy prices, which obviously have a significant impact on the manufacturing cost of beverage closures in our Swiss production facility. The Mexican and US production facilities were not impacted on the same level. PETplanet: As a mould and cap producer and as the WG chairperson at Cetie, would you please be so kind and tell us about the current status of the SUP in relation to the tethered caps? Krueger: First, I wanted to thank every stakeholder involved in the process to create the proposal for the harmonised standard EN17665. Almost 100 industry experts worked together intensively in order to create this proposal. It was finalised by the group of experts in March 2022 and subsequently published by CEN. What is still pending before companies can refer to this standard for demonstrating compliance with EU directive 2019/904, Article 6 is the assessment of the EU commission, which took a bit longer than anticipated due to an uncertainty over a formality (the necessity of inclusion of the so-called Annex ZA) between CEN and the EU commission. The pathway to the standard becoming a harmonised standard should now be cleared and I expect the assessment by the EU commission to be finalised within the next 2-3 months. In the meantime, our working group works on a complementary document intended to clarify and provide guidance to users of the standard in its practical application. PETplanet: Since 2020, Corvaglia had increased the overall production of caps. Now the tethered caps have been added. What mould technology and what caps do you offer your customers in terms of a tethered solution? Krueger: A while ago, we introduced a new injection mould technology. We call it “adaptive flex-band technology”. This technology allows combining great applicability for bottlers with premium hinge functions for end consumers. This combination is unique and we see a high demand in the industry for it. Besides closure designs utilising adaptive flex-band technology, we also introduced closure designs with fully integrated hinges to the market. PETplanet: What were the challenges during development? Krueger: Generally, it is a challenge in itself to add a new functionality (tethering) that has not been requested before, while maintaining the normal requirements of the pretethered world, like good physical performance at the lowest possible amount of material consumed, good applicability and compatibility to existing bottling lines as much as possible. We also developed and implemented closures for new neck finishes (most notably the GME 30.40 neck finish) to further improve the carbon footprint as well as the economic effect of material savings. Our development department and implementation teams did a great job, and I am proud of what we have achieved! PETplanet: How much of your sales are in tethered technology at the moment? Krueger: Currently, about 40% of closures produced in our Swiss production site are tethered. Our Mexican and US sites have not yet switched to production of tethered caps. PETplanet: This closure solution is also being talked about outside Europe. Where do you see future markets for this closure solution? Krueger: We see a lot of general interest almost all over the world. However, I have the feeling that customers in most places outside of Europe – while interested - are rather waiting on how things turn out in Europe in terms of consumer acceptance of tethered caps as a whole and acceptance of individual solutions before making any final decisions to implement tethered caps on a large scale. PETplanet: What efforts are you making now and in the future for sustainable production processes? Krueger: As for probably every manufacturing company, sustainability in production is essential for us. This can for instance be seen by the fact that we have reduced our combined scope 1 + 2 GHG emissions in our European operations by more than 95% compared to 2018. The most important measure to achieve this was to change to 100% renewable energy sources. What also contributed to this drastic carbon footprint improvement are the continuation of the measures and actions we follow since decades, e.g. constantly lightweighting our products, investing in the most energy-efficient production means as well as in infrastructure improvements like modern heating concept, improved insulation and similar initiatives. PETplanet: Thank you very much Mr Krueger. www.corvaglia.com
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