The new caps, introduced by BBL in Ireland, Cido Grupa in the Baltics, LY Company Group and Lactalis Puleva in Spain and Weihenstephan in Germany, have been designed to prevent litter and accelerate transition to renewable materials.

Joining forces with leading beverage producers, Tetra Pak is launching tethered caps on carton packages. Marking a significant milestone in the company’s long-term work on design for recycling, five new tethered cap solutions are currently being introduced across Ireland, the Baltics , Spain and Germany in different product categories – a market first for these geographies. As part of a wider programme, this development paves the way for Europe-based customers to stay ahead of schedule and meet the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive coming into force by 2024.

Julia Luscher, Vice President Marketing, Tetra Pak, comments: “We are delighted to be supplying a number of customers with tethered cap solutions, helping them to ‘walk the talk’ towards their sustainability ambitions. Understanding our customers’ needs and having collected consumer insights through multiple pieces of research across various markets, our new tethered caps have been designed to enhance convenience. For instance, they are easy to open and re-close for subsequent consumption, while featuring carefully sized diameters for smooth pouring and drinking.”

Tethered caps play an important role in preventing litter, as the cap will stay attached to the package. They could also help reduce the carbon footprint of the carton when they are chosen by food manufacturers as plant-based options, made from polymers derived from responsibly sourced sugarcane, thereby increasing the renewable content of the package. Additionally, a majority of Tetra Pak’s tethered cap portfolio features a reduced amount of plastic. Depending on the various solutions, the company achieved a plastic content reduction ranging between 7 % and 15 %.

Marco Marchetti, Vice President Packaging Materials, Sales and Distribution Solutions, Tetra Pak, adds: “Starting with these five new introductions, we are planning to equip approximately 300 packaging lines with tethered caps in Europe by the end of 2022. Considering the scale of change required across the value chain, early collaborations like these are putting the food and beverage industry on a fast track to accelerate the transition to a low carbon circular economy.”

In May, Borrisoleigh Bottling Ltd (BBL) is set to start commercial production of the new plant-based C38 Pro tethered cap on Tetra Top^® 330 and Tetra Top^® 500 carton packages. Based in Ireland, BBL is an experienced and awarded water producer, who’s seeking ‘to lead the industry towards a more responsible and sustainable future’.

• The new HeliCap 26^™ Pro closure – on a Tetra Prisma^® Aseptic 1000 Square package – is being tested since February 2022 in the Baltics with Cido Grupa, who is leading the juice segment in that region since many years and exporting its products to over 20 countries across the globe.
• In Spain, LY Company Group – that is driving the growth of carton-packaged water in the country, with the mission of ‘reaching a turning point in which both society and companies are aware of the importance of choosing sustainable packaging for the conservation of the planet’ – will soon start commercial production of the new plant-based DreamCap™ 26 Pro closure on a Tetra Prisma^® Aseptic 330 Square package.
• In the same country, Lactalis Puleva – part of the Lactalis Group, a world leading dairy company – has chosen to test the new HeliCap^™ 23 Pro closure. The cap, in its plant-based option, has been applied to Tetra Brik^® Aseptic 1000 Slim packages for the brand Lauki, on shelf since March this year.
• Weihenstephan, one of the oldest and most popular German dairy brands, will soon test the production of the new LightWing^™ 30 closure, on a Tetra Brik^® Aseptic 1000 Edge carton.

The company has also heavily invested towards an improved manufacturing experience for customers. Tetra Pak’s new high quality, automated production lines for tethered caps utilise Artificial Intelligence technology for increased efficiency.

Marchetti concludes: “We are on a journey towards creating the world’s most sustainable food package, a carton that is fully made from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, is fully recyclable and carbon-neutral. We are ramping up investment in the development of alternative solutions across our packaging portfolio such as tethered caps and other drink-from systems, to reduce littering while increasing the renewable share of our cartons.”

“In total, we are investing around EUR 400 million in the development and roll-out of tethered cap solutions, including a EUR 100 million investment last year in our Châteaubriant plant in France to accelerate the production of tethered closures. By working seamlessly across multiple project streams and covering approximately 40 different packages with tethered caps, we expect to sell over 1.5 billion such closures by year end.”

Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) is set to accelerate the decarbonisation of its business by reducing absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its entire value chain – including scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions – by 30 % by 2030 (vs 2019)^* and setting a path to become a Net Zero business by 2040, in alignment with a 1.5˚C pathway and the Paris Climate Agreement.

CCEP will reduce GHG emissions across all five areas of its value chain – ingredients, packaging, operations, transportation and refrigeration. Crucially, there is a significant focus on reducing scope 3 emissions via a commitment to support strategic suppliers to set their own science-based carbon reduction targets and use 100 % renewable electricity.

CCEP’s immediate action plan is supported by a three-year €250m investment which will provide targeted financial support to decarbonise its business. This includes sustainable packaging initiatives, such as the progression of its 100 % rPET roadmap and investing in the scaling of depolymerisation technology, which will help accelerate the delivery of its longer-term net-zero objectives.

The ambition is underpinned by the inclusion of a GHG emissions reduction target in CCEP’s long term management incentive plan (LTIP) – 15 % of the LTIP awarded in 2020 will be based on the extent to which CCEP reduces GHG emissions over the next three years.

It builds on work undertaken over the last decade to reduce GHG emissions across CCEP’s entire value chain by 30.5 % (vs 2010) as part of This is Forward, its joint sustainability plan with Coca-Cola in Western Europe. CCEP’s 2030 GHG reduction commitment has been approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as being in line with a 1.5˚C reduction pathway as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

As part of its journey to Net Zero, CCEP will invest in projects which remove carbon from the atmosphere or verified carbon offset projects. However it will focus on reducing emissions as far as possible and will only offset where essential and where it can’t reduce emissions any further.

^{*This includes a commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 47 % and Scope 3 emissions 29 % by 2030 from a 2019 base year.}

Coca-Cola European Partners announced the introduction of CanCollar^®, an innovative paperboard packaging solution, for multipack cans in Spain. The move supports its work, in partnership with Coca-Cola, to remove all unnecessary or hard to recycle plastic from its portfolio, avoiding the use of more than 11,000 tonnes of virgin plastic a year across Western Europe.

Initially, Coca-Cola European Partners will launch the new, PEFC certified¹ recyclable and sustainably sourced paperboard CanCollar^® in the Balearic Islands in November 2020, a first in Europe.

Innovative packaging design is a core principle of Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste strategy and through collaboration with WestRock, a global company that provides its customers with sustainable differentiated packaging solutions, Coca-Cola European Partners will start to use the CanCollar^® paperboard can ring technology in the Balearic Islands, replacing the current Hi-cone solution and saving more than 18 tonnes of plastic annually.

Coca-Cola European Partners has invested 2.6 million euros in its Barcelona plant to support this initiative. The installation of WestRock’s CanCollar^® Fortuna^™ manufacturing equipment will enable multipack cans to be grouped in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way, with a process that does not require the use of glue or adhesives.

¹PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, is a leading global alliance of national forest certification systems. As an international non-profit, non-governmental organization, PEFC is dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management through independent third-party certification.