Closure and container manufacturer Gwalia Packaging Group (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan / UK; www.dragonplastics.com) has developed a single-piece, single-wall, child resistant closure believed to be the lightest of its kind available on the market. The new “Savalot” weighs just 4.96 g, 20% less than its nearest competitor, Gwalia said. It can easily be opened by adults and is intended for use with bottles of bleach and other household products.

Savalot is a squeeze-and-turn closure with fins on its lower skirt that interlock with lugs on the bottle. Opening is accomplished by squeezing the lower skirt and simultaneously turning the whole closure. This double action, which requires very little pressure, is said to be beyond the comprehension and capability of most children aged under five.

The lower skirt is attached to the closure’s body by two resiliently deformable arms. This means the fins may be disengaged from the lugs without distorting the body of the closure, or its threads. This part of the design makes the closure unique and is the subject of a patent application.

According to Gwalia managing director Rod Parker, the new closure’s weight savings could reduce annual material usage by 100 t/y for a major bleach brand owner or contract packer / filler requiring 100 m closures annually. During Savalot’s development, Gwalis says it complied with the child and adult tests of ISO 8317:2003 when fitted to angle-necked bleach bottles.