Page 72 - Plastics News June 2024

PRODUCT NEWS

Mono-Material PET Bottle Caps: Enhancing Recycling Efforts

he mono-material approach PET Caps Can Enhance Recyclability closure recycling rates are increasing,
could help to boost PET re- especially in Europe where closure
cycling. tethering will be mandatory starting
July 2024, a beverage container re-
A Swiss packaging machin-
ery maker and a California “carbon- mains a two-material solution. HDPE
negative” materials company have suffers from degradation when reused
collaborated to develop what they multiple times. Changing a closure to
are calling “the world’s first PET cap the same grade of PET as in the con-
and closure manufacturing system.” tainer avoids the need to separate the
The aim is to further enable recycling two materials and also solves the deg-
by taking a mono-material approach. radation topic at the same time.”
This involves pairing PET caps with Origin Co-CEO and co-founder John
PET bottles, instead of making firms Bissell said Origin’s high-throughput
separate caps made of different resins production system is the first to be
to avoid contaminating the recycling able to make PET caps and closures at
stream. commercial scale. “We expect it will be

PackSys Global AG of Ruti, Switzer- the first of many such production lines
land, and Origin Materials of West for making not just beverage packag-
Sacramento, Calif., were promoting ing better and fully recyclable, but con-
their new technology at NPE 2024. Ueli tainers of nearly every kind.”
Kobel, director of PackSys Global’s Ueli Kobel, director of PackSys Glob- Perfecting the Slit and Fold Process
Slitting Division, said in an interview al’s Slitting Division, at NPE show- for PET Caps
at the firm’s booth that they began the cased the PET bottle caps that his firm On its NPE stand, PackSys touted “ful-
project two years ago and did most of developed jointly with Origin Materials. ly recyclable packaging, from cap to
the design work on the closure in the Photo by Robert Grace bottle.” Photo by Robert Grace
U.S. He noted that this is most suitable “PET closures can be a game changer
for simple screw caps and not likely for for closure recycling,” Kobel said in a Speaking to the latest project with
more complex molded caps such as statement. “Most beverage closures PackSys, Origin senior research engi-
those with flip-tops for sports drinks. are today made from HDPE and, while neer Rachel Hess said: “We’ve been

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