US-based packaging company Berry Global has partnered with The Coca-Cola Company to offer tethered lids for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in the European Union (EU).
The lightweight lids will be included on the PET bottles used for Coca-Cola’s carbonated soft drinks.
Designed to enable easy access to the beverage and comfortable mobile drinking, the new closure features a special tamper-evident band to provide a wide angle.
Berry Global and Coca-Cola have so far applied more than 400 million tethered lids on Coca-Cola bottling lines in Germany, Spain and the UK, with plans to expand this to other Coca-Cola plants in Europe.
Berry Global circular economy and innovation vice-president Thierry Bernet said: “Innovation in packaging design is key to helping our customers meet their ambitious sustainability goals while delivering attractive, functional solutions that meet and exceed constantly evolving market demands.
“Because PET bottles are the most recycled plastic package type, this collaboration has tremendous potential to help keep resources in use and out of our environment.”
The tethered lid is based on Berry Global’s patented CompactFlip hinge solution and integrated with the lightweight 26mm GME30.40 neck developed by single-use plastics group Cetie.
To comply with the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive, it is designed to remain intact with the bottle.
Bottles featuring the new closure are claimed to be 20% lighter than the previous PCO-1881 neck used by Coca-Cola.
The transition is in line with the beverage company’s commitment to making all its packaging recyclable worldwide by 2025.
In September last year, The Coca-Cola Company introduced fully recycled plastic bottles in Vietnam as part of its efforts to help create a circular economy.
The bottles are made entirely from recycled PET (rPET) apart from their caps and labels.
They are claimed to meet both Vietnamese regulations and The Coca-Cola Company’s global standards for food-grade rPET packaging.
