Closure redesigned to lessen blow-off risk, says Bericap

Bericap claims the venting capacity of the SuperShorty closures has been enlarged for 2.5 litre bottles filled with up to 4.5 volume per cent CO2 so that when consumers unscrew the cap at excessive speed the risk of blow-off has been dramatically reduced.

According to the manufacturer, the redesign of the SuperShorty closure also results in improved rinsing after wet decontamination in aseptic filling lines.

The company has also announced that it is set to step up production on its enhanced closure to more than five billion units following increased demand in China for aseptic filling and the conversion of beer in PET from PCO 1810 to PCO 1881 in Germany.

Bericap has been supplying its SuperShorty closure to fillers of short neck PCO 1881 standard bottles since early 2007.

SuperShorty incorporates the company's DoubleSeal system and can be equipped with an inshell moulded oxygen scavenging liner for safe sealing under hot conditions, claims Bericap.

The SuperShorty closure meets the PCO 1881 short height neck finish standard set by the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT). The association's members include brand owners, preform and closure firms and those who make filling lines, capper and blowmoulding machines.

The SuperShorty closure range includes a crown design, mainly used by beer fillers using PET bottles. The crown look is of interest to bottlers who want the design to be as close to the traditional glass bottle with a metal crown.

The range also includes the SuperShorty CSD for use by bottlers of carbonated drinks, the SuperShorty Still for still drinks and a variant for hot fill applications.

The short height neck conforming to PCO 1881 standards offers weight savings of 1.3 grams, compared to PCO 1810 or PCO28, says Bericap. The SuperShorty in a crown design offers weight savings of 0.4 g, while the CSD one cuts 0.6 grams off the weight.

Bericap recently extended its light weight family with the introduction of the HexaLite and Galileo closures.

According to the company the HexaLite closures at less than 1.5g save a minimum of 0.5g of plastic resin (HDPE), and the new light weight neck finish for PET bottles saves at least 1.5g of PET resin, amounting to savings of 2.0g per package.

Galileo is the registered name for a range of Bericap closures that use patented technology for moulding hinged closures in a closed position which allows relatively high speed moulding, does not require any additional closing operation and offers efficient tamper evidence performance.

This technology has been used to develop various light weight closures. A new Galileo I 38mm light weight hinged closure has been introduced for the packaging of fresh milk, milk based drinks and beverages.

Bericap has 20 factories in 18 countries across the world.