In a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them - and then beat them’, Coca-Cola is rolling out bottles with tethered caps a year-and-a-half before this becomes mandatory across the EU market.
In collaboration with packaging specialist Berry, The Coca-Cola Company has introduced with a lightweight, tethered closure for its carbonated soft drinks in PET bottles. Berry’s new tethered closure for Coca-Cola is designed to remain intact with the bottle – making it less likely to be littered and more likely to be recycled. And this collaboration helps progress Coca-Cola’s goal to make 100% of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025.Tethered caps first became an issue in 2018, when the European Commission proposed introducing them on single-use beverage bottles. Multinationals, including Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestlé and PepsiCo, lobbied furiously against the proposed new legislation, arguing that the investment required would be better spent on measures to increase recycling collection rates. To no avail.
In June 2019, the European Union published Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. Next to famous banning of the use of plastics in specified single-use products, it also stated that as of July 3, 2024, single-use 3-litre and smaller beverage containers with plastic caps and lids, could only be placed on the market if the caps and lids remained attached to the containers during the products’ intended use and storage.
Faced with a deadline that suddenly seemed very close, the companies then turned their attention to designing and developing the required tethering solutions. Challenges such as how to create a sustainable solution that also incorporates the ever-higher percentage of recycled content demanded by law, needed to be overcome. The new caps had to fit with the various types of standard bottle mouths on the market, be practical, safe and convenient in use for consumers yet not affect production cost, bottle design, bottle neck, the filling line or the capper. In addition, the closures should be available both as light-weight press-on caps and as screw-on caps.
Now, well ahead of schedule, Berry has solved these issues and more. In addition to product safety and security, Berry’s new tethered closure for Coca-Cola features a special tamper-evident band that, once broken, does not impact the closure's ability to remain attached and is positioned out of the way for drinking but can easily be reclosed. When open, it provides a wide angle for easy access to the beverage and comfortable on-the-go drinking.Already, over 400 million closures have been successfully applied to date on Coca-Cola bottling lines in Germany, Spain, and the UK, with the rollout to continue to the company’s other European plants.
“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,” said Thierry Bernet, VP Circular Economy & Innovation at Berry Global.
Berry’s closure for Coca-Cola is based on its patented CompactFlip hinge solution. It is the first to be used in conjunction with the new lightweight 26mm GME30.40 neck, developed by the Cetie (The International Technical Centre for Bottling) Single-Use Plastics Group, of which Berry is a member. The new neck finish delivers an over 1g saving in PET compared to the current PCO-1881 neck. Combined with a 10% weight reduction from the Berry closure, the new pack is now around 20% lighter than the PCO-1881 version.
Berry, Coca-Cola implement tethered caps in EU markets
