Berry, Coca-Cola Collaborate to implement Tethered caps in EU markets

Berry’s new tethered closure on Coca-Cola bottles makes the closure less likely to be littered

EVANSVILLE, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After winning a prestigious sustainability award at PACK EXPO International last month for this circular solution, Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY) is the first plastic packaging manufacturer in Europe to supply The Coca-Cola Company with a lightweight, tethered closure for its carbonated soft drinks in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. Bolstered by the European Union (EU) Single-Use Plastics Directive, Berry’s new tethered closure for Coca-Cola is designed to remain intact with the bottle – making it less likely to be littered and more likely to be recycled.

Over 400 million closures have been successfully applied to date on Coca-Cola bottling lines in Germany, Spain, and the UK, with the rollout to continue to the company’s other European plants.

“Innovation in packaging design is key to helping our customers meet their ambitious sustainability goals while delivering attractive, functional solutions that meet and exceed constantly evolving market demands,” said Thierry Bernet, VP Circular Economy & Innovation at Berry Global. “Because PET bottles are the most recycled plastic package type, this collaboration has tremendous potential to help keep resources in use and out of our environment.”

EU Directive 2019/204 requires plastic beverage bottles up to 3 litres in size to have closures that remain attached to the container throughout their intended use from July 2024. And this collaboration helps progress Coca-Cola’s goal to make 100% of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025.

Maintaining a convenient and comfortable user experience, in addition to product safety and security, Berry’s new tethered closure for Coca-Cola features a special tamper-evident band that, once broken, does not impact the closure's ability to remain attached and is positioned out of the way for drinking but can easily be reclosed. When open, it provides a wide angle for easy access to the beverage and comfortable on-the-go drinking.

Berry’s closure for Coca-Cola is based on its patented CompactFlip hinge solution. It is the first to be used in conjunction with the new lightweight 26mm GME30.40 neck, developed by the Cetie (The International Technical Centre for Bottling) Single-Use Plastics Group, of which Berry is a member. The new neck finish delivers an over 1g saving in PET compared to the current PCO-1881 neck. Combined with a 10% weight reduction from the Berry closure, the new pack is now around 20% lighter than the PCO-1881 version.

Berry offers a wide range of circular, tethered closure solutions to meet the varying needs of individual products and brands. For more information, see www.berryglobal.com/en/news/articles/14046-berry-global-wins-prestigious-sustainability-award.

About Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company wants to refresh the world and make a difference. We build loved brands, done sustainably for a better shared future.

For 135 years, Coca-Cola has been making drinks that create joy and pleasure for billions of people around the world. With 700.000 employees globally, 200 brands and a presence in almost every country and territory around the world, we are building our future on beverages that people love drinking – with a strong focus on operating sustainably, and a long tradition of giving back to the communities we are a part of.

At Coca-Cola, we provide drinks for people to enjoy on any occasion: when sharing a meal with family, having a refreshment during a break at work, meeting friends at a restaurant or a bar, or simply when on the go. We focus on developing new, exciting drinks such as plant-based beverages, coffees and teas, while building on the much-loved brands that many people have grown up with.

We seek to positively impact people’s lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment, sugar reduction, packaging collection and recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across our value chain. We have had a strong presence across Europe since 1900 with bottling facilities from Antwerp to Zagreb, employing more than 50.000 people across our networked organization.

Meeting the 2030 SDG targets depends to a large extent on the transformation of food systems. That is why The Coca-Cola Company and its leading bottling partners in Europe, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, support the EU Commission’s Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork Strategy objectives to accelerate the transition to sustainable food systems. Our ambition is to ensure that for our consumers the healthier and more sustainable choice becomes the easy choice. As a result, we aim to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions in our entire European value chain by 2040.

About Berry Global

At Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY), we create innovative packaging and engineered products that we believe make life better for people and the planet. We do this every day by leveraging our unmatched global capabilities, sustainability leadership, and deep innovation expertise to serve customers of all sizes around the world. Harnessing the strength in our diversity and industry-leading talent of 46,000 global employees across more than 265 locations, we partner with customers to develop, design, and manufacture innovative products with an eye toward the circular economy. The challenges we solve and the innovations we pioneer benefit our customers at every stage of their journey. For more information, visit our website, or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter. (BERY- E)