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Origin Materials, Sacramento, California, which introduced a PET cap in 2023, has partnered with Brückner Group company PackSys Global, a Swiss-based maker of plastic closure slitting machines, on a PET cap and closure manufacturing system. After conducting successful tests of the system at the PackSys’ KREALAB technology center located in its Rüti, Switzerland, headquarters, the companies are showcasing the results at NPE2024.

PackSys is featuring its TEM-SF Plus slitting and folding machine and its capLAB+ inline unit for checking the tear-off force of the tamper-evident tape (TE tape) on closures. That system is running at Netstal’s booth where it is integrated into an INTRAVIS CapWatcher System and is being presented together with a Netstal injection molding machine. Packsys and Origin representatives are split between the Brückner Group USA’s and Netstal’s booths. Packaging supplier Berry Global is also an onsite partner.

Caps are traditionally injection molded or compression molded from HDPE or PP, complicating end-of-life recycling for PET bottles. At this time, a spokesperson for Origin declined to say how the PET caps are initially produced but noted that any PET, including recycled or its own biobased PET, can be used in its production system. Origin also notes that PET offers better oxygen and carbon dioxide barrier than HDPE and PP.