CAPS AND CLOSURES | ANALYSIS
The challenge of tethered caps
The impact of tethered caps regulation on the European caps and closures industry is explored by Martyna Fong, author of a new AMI Consulting report
Sustainability is the key driver in the European plastic caps and closures industry: market development initiatives have so far been supported by the three pillars of sustainability, whereby environmental gains are commercially viable and socially accepted. The current regulatory context concerning the Single Use Plastics directive creates shifts and the pillars are out of balance, creating uncertainty in the value chain. A new report from industry consultants, AMI
Consulting published in June 2019 contextualises the new industry challenges and quantifies the impact of the changing regulations on demand. The European closures industry has been
proactive for well over a decade in reducing the use of virgin material in both neck finish and closures. Lightweighting has been the most important driver of change. The last industry step-change within beverage closures was the shift towards one-piece beverage caps and away from two-piece caps, coinciding with the adoption of the PCO1881 bottle neck standard. Concomitant with raw material reduction are savings in energy, lower CO2 emis- sions in logistics and consequently cost savings. Now the focus of the European sustainability agenda is single use plastics (SUP), which includes the handling of caps in a circular economy and pro- moting anti-littering solutions. As a result, the Single Use Plastics directive drafted in 2018 (2018/0172 COD), in which Article 6 dictates a new
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norm to enforce closures to be connected/tethered with the bottle, was voted in by the European Parliament in March 2019. The European plastic caps and closures industry is about to undergo another major step-change. The tethered cap regulation will impact plastic beverage bottles under 3 litres, including composite containers (i.e. cartons). By 2024 all beverage closures will have to be tethered by law. Ahead of the formal tethered cap standard, the industry is reviewing solutions to offer early compliance. There a number of technical variables to consider, including opening angle, torque, rotation of band, lock-in position etc, all of which may result in a different concept. Not to reduce the consumer’s drinking experience, the tethered cap should allow for wide opening, locking-in position, no rotation and re-closeability. The new regulation is intended to reduce
littering; however, it will likely stir the demand for virgin polymers, thus compromising the industry’s committed efforts towards lightweighting. In the short-term, the new closure designs are likely to be heavier than those on the market today. The industry will need to accommodate significant costs required for regulatory compliance. This creates a conceiv- able clash between environmental and economic pillars of sustainability and uncertainty over consum- er acceptance of changes (social impact).
Main image: The European Commission’s Single Use Plastics directive requires all beverage closures to remain
connected to the bottle by a deadline of 2024
� July/August 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 15
PHOTO: APTAR
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