CAPS & CLOSURES 28 PETplanet Insider Vol. 27 No. 01+02/26 www.petpla.net PET caps enter commercial production A shift at the top Origin’s CapForming technology enables the commercial production of PET closures designed for full recyclability alongside PET bottles. The system combines thermoforming with high-throughput moulding to minimise material waste and support a wide variety of cap formats. In 2026, the company plans to scale up production, enabling wider adoption of mono-material food and beverage packaging, in which products are designed for circularity from the beginning. PET containers have set the standard for recyclable food and beverage packaging, but their caps have remained a challenge. Most closures today are made with HDPE or PP and must be separated during recycling from the PET containers. While bottle-to-bottle recycling is well established, cap-to-cap recycling has generally been out of reach due to the limitations of HDPE and PP caps. Most often HDPE and PP caps today are downcycled into other products, including durable goods, rather than new closures or bottles. Brands typically include an asterisk on recycled content claim for their products: Made with recycled material – “except for the cap and label.” Small part, outsized impact To change that picture, in August 2025, Origin announced that the first products with Origin PET caps, Power Hydration alkaline water, had gone on to store shelves in California. The introduction of these caps, and the development of Origin’s CapForming technology, supports the industry trend toward mono-material packaging designed for full recyclability. Monomaterial packaging reduces the need to separate material streams and minimises the risk of contaminating recycled PET bales with other plastics. Apart from product circularity, PET can provide performance advantages. Its barrier properties, compared with other materials, can allow less plastic to achieve similar or improved performance. For a given thickness of material, PET caps provide an estimated 40 times the carbon dioxide barrier and 30 times the oxygen barrier. The weight of Origin’s first 1881 cap (1.51.8 g) is comparable to or lighter than many HDPE or PP caps. Origin PET cap manufacturing does not require custom polymers, says the company. The caps are made with off-the-shelf virgin or recycled PET, or blends thereof, depending on customer preference. This helps to smooth customer adoption and is anticipated to help expand the market for PET caps in 2026. PET caps also enable differentiated branding. Origin PET caps provide a fully transparent closure to enhance product visibility. Brands may tint, print, or emboss the closure to deliver unique marketing experiences. For tamper evidence, Origin claims that their PET cap provide a particularly satisfying user experience, from its feel to the sound it makes when opened. Scaling PET cap production – The CapFormer build out In September 2024, Origin announced the first Origin CapFormer System, a commercial-scale manufacturing system for the production of PET caps and closures. The CapFormer is based on thermoforming and incorporates slitting technology and advanced vision systems. Thermoforming is claimed to enable the rapid production of caps and even larger-format lids, avoiding some of the limitations of injection moulding for larger formats. In 2025, the company expanded production capability and prepared for additional manufacturing lines. The first CapFormer System is operational in Reed City, Michigan, USA. The system has produced caps for commercial customer qualification, provides samples, supports design iterations, and facilitates research and development of new cap types, says Origin. CAPS & CLOSURES Vertically integrated PET extrusion system, Reed City, USA 64-cavity mould for the production of PET caps
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