A spokesperson from the company told FoodProductionDaily.com that its range of light weight closures was initially introduced in response to demands from customers to cut raw material costs.
Because the lighter weight closures use less plastic they also use less non-renewable material which is, of course, good for the environment, she added.
In a statement the company said that savings on the newly introduced HexaLite closures amount to almost 2000 tons of resin savings for each one billion bottles produced, an estimated reduction of 15000 tons of green house gas emissions and almost €3m in cost reductions.
The company said that it had a " general commitment " to offer to its customers " a broad range of new closure and neck finish solutions to help them develop sustainable packaging solutions in key FMCG markets ."
The spokesperson confirmed that the first light weight closure to be introduced was the SuperShorty for short neck bottles which was introduced to the market in 2007.
The HexaLite and new Galileo closures are more recent additions to Bericap's light weight family.
HexaLite
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, totalling savings of 2.0g per package.
There are two main sizes; the HexaLite 26mm at 1.1g or less on a new neck finish of 26mm at 2.2g or less, which replace the current 26.7mm standard used in the States and some European countries; and HexaLite 29/25mm at 1.4g or less on a new neck finish 29/25 at 2.4g or less, replacing the 30/25 standard for still water.
Standard Bericap features such as the olive seal for better seal under high temperature variation and the slit, folded tamper evident band (Flexband) have been included in the HexaLite line.
HexaLite closures were introduced to the market earlier this year.
Galileo 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.
" For any 100 million bottles, this Galileo I 38mm program would contribute to save between 225 and 345 tons of resin or between 300 000 and 500 000€ worth of PET and HDPE resins and would help to reduce the carbon footprint by up to 2600 tons of CO2 emissions ", said the company.
According to Bericap Galileo closures include other benefits such as a visible and reliable tear-off temper evident band and an efficient secondary seal after first opening.
Bericap says it is one of the largest manufacturers of plastic closures in the world, with 20 factories in 18 countries.