Page 27 - Plastics News July 2023

aging development and supporting “The combined project management neck, including adaptation of different
services. CCEP’s introduction of at- between CCEP and Sidel was key to equipment such as the preform feed-
tached caps and the implementation the success of the project,” said Geert er, blower, capper, cap feeder and
of a new lighter neck, with a 1 gram Marse, Technical Packaging Lead at labeller. However, CCEP was able to
saving, provided numerous technical CCEP. “Anticipation, planning and col- rely on Sidel’s strength in this field to
challenges relating to the correct se- laboration between stakeholders was carry out the detailed study of every
lection of preforms and caps as well as vital in readying these lines. We re- machine’s configuration in each plant
the right technical equipment configu- leased the first sellable bottles on the to address their respective unique
rations to switch across all its existing Great Britain market in May 2022, as set-up.
PET packaging lines in Europe. we had scheduled. The pilot in Bar- With a large number of lines across

Comprehensive expertise from the celona helped us to learn and identify the EU requiring conversion, CCEP
start to completion any potential issues together.” was among the first organisations
From the beginning of the project, es- In some cases, Sidel combined line within the CSD market to switch to
pecially during the initial definition and conversion with line overhaul, while tethered caps. The first line to be con-
planning phases, Coca-Cola Europa- CCEP conducted maintenance to de- verted was completed in April 2022
cific Partners had to rationalise the so- liver optimised product execution and in East Kilbride, Scotland, which pro-
lutions to implement in terms of caps, the highest level of line performance. duced CCEP’s 1.5L bottle, before a
preforms and OEM technical modi- “The majority of converted lines second single-serve line was complet-
fications on the equipment. During achieved line efficiency objective. We ed at the end of 2022.
the planning phase, pilot tests for the are fully satisfied with the preparation, Geert Marse, adds: “To support this
new product were handled on two including line status assessment, the switch Coca-Cola launched a broad
different lines including one Sidel line pilot line tests and the great collabora- communication campaign to explain
in Barcelona, which was converted to tion in working together to make this how to use this new cap and to help
accommodate both tethered capping project successful,” continues Geert gradually change consumer habits,
and the new, lighter neck GME30.40 Marse. collecting all consumers feedback and
that was developed and made avail- Delivering massive conversions across taking corrective actions if needed.”
able for industry. These tests enabled Europe To date, Sidel has successfully con-
Sidel to work closely with CCEP to verted one third of CCEP’s Europe-
assess the new specifications, along Once pilot tests were finalised in Bar- an PET bottling lines for CSDs, with
with the new equipment configura- celona, Sidel was engaged by CCEP the final line conversion scheduled to
tion, to ensure optimum efficiency on to convert all of its Sidel lines within be completed by the end of the first
the line, validate quality requirements European factories. Line conversions quarter of 2024.
of new necks and allow CCEP to con- have varied between factories. Some
duct a small-scale market evaluation required significant development for
to understand consumer acceptance. a change to tethered cap and new

Study confirms biodegradability of compostable bioplastic in real conditions

scientific study conducted by
A Chaire CoPack, in partnership
with AgroParisTech and the Univer-
sity of Montpellier, has provided con-
firmation that certified compostable
food contact packaging does indeed
biodegrade in industrial composting
facilities.

The composting test used 20 tons of
food- and bio-waste collected from

PLASTICS NEWS 27
July 2023