Firmly Attached: Tethered Caps Soon to be Standard

Tethered caps will be mandatory from July 2024. From then on, single-use plastic drinks containers may only be placed on the market if their plastic closures and lids are firmly attached to the container throughout its entire use – just how far along are manufacturers?

Tethered Caps on two plastic bottles. — Most cap manufacturers offer suitable tethered cap variants for existing caps.

Closures and lids of plastic beverage containers are among the single-use plastic items most frequently found as waste during beach clean-ups in the European Union. For this reason, the EU has included these packaging components in its directive on single-use plastics (EU Directive 2019/904), which already stipulates that cotton buds, drinking straws, cutlery, plates and cups made of plastic may no longer be sold throughout the EU. From 3 July 2024, the directive will also apply to closures for single-use plastic beverage containers. With a filling volume of up to three litres, only closures that are firmly attached to the container throughout its entire service life will then be permitted. This applies not only to juices and soft drinks, but also to packaging for milk and other dairy products.

Green and blue milk carton from Berchtesgadener Land — Berchtesgadener Land UHT milk now with attached cap and one-step opening

No Shortage of Variants

Beverage manufacturers and dairies were faced with the problem of integrating the new requirements into their filling systems. According to a study by PwC, up to 1,350 filling lines in the EU need to be converted. Many companies are also afraid of alienating their customers with impractical solutions.

However, manufacturers and engineers were able to quickly develop innovative solutions. For example,system manufacturer KHS points out that most closure manufacturers offer suitable tethered cap variants for the closures previously used — including lighter closure types or those based on renewable raw materials.

Tetra Pak, the packaging giant that leads the way in composite cartons, has also quickly adapted to the new demand and added a whole arsenal of tethered caps with sustainable added value to its range. “In total, Tetra Pak is launching 40 different packages with tethered caps, all of which include closures made from plant-based materials. This allows us to offer our customers a wide range of different solutions that can be adapted to different needs,” emphasises Tetra Pak.

Some dairies and beverage producers have already switched to the new closures, while others are still in the conversion phase or are seeking further optimisation.

Plastic pouches for milk from Hemme. — The Hemme milk bag has fewer layers than conventional milk packaging and weighs just 14g.

Strategies for the Changeover

Many of the new concepts are based on close co-operation between packaging suppliers and their customers. For example, NordseeMilch was the first dairy in Germany to sell its milk cartons only with tethered caps since July 2022. The closure cap developed by Elopak is fully recyclable and, according to the company, lighter than all previous variants. “The switch to the new Pure-TwistFlip can be implemented on existing filling lines with relatively little technical effort and time,” Elopak also states.

Berchtesgadener Land will implement the requirement for UHT milk at the beginning of 2023 and has started to purchase and commission four new UHT milk systems for this purpose. The HeliCapTM 23 Pro closure used comes from the Tetra Pak range. “This improvement, which is important for the environment, also fulfils the customer's wish for simple openinghandling and a switch to a one-step opening closure system,” writes the dairy.

Hemme Milch's Ecolean milk bags, for example, which do not require a lid, show that the problem of screw caps can also be completely eliminated through innovative design. This innovative packaging concept also impressed the jury of the German Brand Award 2023, where the dairy won the “Product Brand of the Year” category.

Coca Cola plastic bottle with tethered cap — Coca-Cola began introducing tethered caps in autumn 2021.

Progress at Different Levels

In the soft drinks segment, Coca-Cola was an early pioneer with its own solution. In autumn 2021, the Group began introducing tethered caps. Since then, more and more drinks have gradually been launched on the market in non-returnable PET bottles with caps. Coca-Cola fills drinks in non-returnable bottles at a total of eleven locations in Germany. According to the Group, 20 production lines need to be converted. In December 2023, this was the case for 15 of them. At the same time, the beverage company is already planning to introduce a more advanced closure solution: a weight-reduced swing top, which should bring advantages in terms of recycling and material savings.

Many other companies, on the other hand, are still in the changeover phase. Gerolsteiner, for example, started using tethered caps in March 2023. The Gerolsteiner 1.5-litre non-returnable PET bottle was the first to be successively equipped with tethered caps. Drinks in 1.0-litre and 0.75-litre non-returnable PET containers followed at the end of 2023. The changeover process should be fully completed by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

Others were not yet satisfied with the results. Bad Dürrheimer Mineralbrunnen, for example, has withdrawn its “Stay on” closure for Wittmannsthaler brand mineral water from the market for the time being. “Our trials with the new Lass dran closure in autumn 2023 did not satisfy many of our customers or us. We are therefore discontinuing the use of this closure for the time being,” the company explains. However, a new solution should be available from July 2024. As the deadline draws ever closer, Bad Dürrheimer has no other option — and is not alone in this.

In terms of consumer acceptance, manufacturers have no choice but to develop more convenient solutions or rely on gradual familiarisation. “It can be assumed that consumers will increasingly become accustomed to them by 2024. This will be ensured by the progressive and ultimately final switchover of all single-use beverage packaging to tethered caps,” says Tilmann Rothhammer, Managing Director Customer Service & Supply Chain at CCEP DE.