CAPS & CLOSURES 23 PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 01+02/24 www.petpla.net its environmental footprint, EckesGranini focused on another aspect besides tethered caps: the modification of the neck finish to achieve significant material savings. The company opted to switch over its leading brand “hohes C” to bottles with the PET 26/GME 30.40 neck finish. “That was obviously a bold business decision that reflected our willingness to invest in the conversion of our filling systems,” said Céline Bacigalupi, Senior Manager Packaging & Technology at Eckes-Granini. The investment delivered impressive results because the quantity of plastic pellets required to manufacture the bottle and closure has been significantly reduced. Support in every detail In the future, Bericap’s Clip Aside tethered caps will be used with all the major Eckes-Granini brands – from hohes C and granini to Joker, Pago, Rynkeby and Brämhults. Line by line, joint project teams handled the preparations to switch over to the new closure generations, and custom solutions were developed for the different closure types on bottles of various sizes and designs. This meant developing detailed solutions for numerous sub-variants, all based on the general Clip Aside concept. “We have always been committed to providing our customers with comprehensive support,” said Thomas Henkel. “So we brought our technical upstream suppliers on board. Millions of euros of investments in moulds and processing equipment were essential to meet future demand for Clip Aside at the Eckes-Granini bottling plants.” Next steps The work is almost finished: the new tethered caps have been validated on each of the filling lines, the new moulds have been put into operation at Bericap and production has been ramped up. The focus is now on optimising line efficiency and ensuring the technically correct application of the closures. The Bericap technical service team is providing on-site support to establish the optimum settings together with bottlers and machine manufacturers. “The last lines are scheduled to be converted in May,” said Tobias Schardt. “Thanks to Bericap’s innovative Clip Aside caps, we’ll be compliant with the EU’s tethering requirements before July 2024. At the same time, it’s great to know that we’re helping to reduce plastic material usage in every Eckes-Granini bottle we sell.” www.bericap.com www.eckes-granini.com Packaging Closures þĊĕĉ õĆĕĔĕĂč Ĕ čĆĂąĊďĈ ĊďċĆĄĕĊĐď ĎĐčąĊďĈ ĕĆĄĉďĐčĐĈĚ ćĐē ĉĊĈĉ½ĔđĆĆą ĂđđčĊĄĂĕĊĐďĔ Wemaximize your added value NPE 2024 I W223
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