By July 2024, all disposable plastic drinks packaging must be equipped with a tethered closure as specified in the EU single-use plastics (SUP) directive. Closure manufacturer United Caps (Wiltz / Luxembourg; www.unitedcaps.com) and plastics producer LyondellBasell (LYB, Houston, Texas / USA; www.lyondellbasell.com) presented a joint development project to this end at the “K” trade fair. “As manufacturers of closures, it is precisely companies such as ours that are called upon to react here,” explained Astrid Hoffmann-Leist, head of marketing and innovation at United Caps. She added that the company has teamed up with leading companies at an early stage in order to present solutions for attached caps and lids.

Apart from LyondellBasell, project partners include blow moulding machinery manufacturer Krones and Belgian bottler Spadel. At the K in Düsseldorf / Germany, LYB’s stand had closures on display in new HDPE grades of the “Purell GC 7260G” and “Hostalen 5231H” brands, which are ready for use on beverage bottles. According to LyondellBasell head of sales Domenico Gigliobianco, Purell is the reference material for closures for non-carbonated beverages, while Hostalen stands out on account of its material properties. “The attached closure ought actually to be heavier, since material would be required for the connection between the part that remains on the bottle and the cap. But precisely that is not the case.”

In 2018, European beverage associations criticised the EU directive to ban plastic beverage containers without attached caps, referring to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC, Frankfurt / Germany; www.pwc.com). The results indicated increased CO₂ emissions and higher costs – see Plasteurope.com of 21.12.2018.