United Caps, an international manufacturer of caps and closures, on 3 May reported that all of its European plants are now operating with 100% renewable energy as a result of a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement for the energy produced at Renantis’ Åliden wind farm, which has been operating in Sweden since 2019.
“At United Caps, we are committed to leaving the world better than we found it,” said CEO Benoit Henckes. “Achieving operations in our European plants with 100% renewable energy is just one part of the strategy. We also aim to make as many of our caps as possible from renewable or recycled plastic, and are operating with a happy, secure workforce delighted to be part of a carbon neutral company. These are high aims, and we are thrilled at the progress we are making, both to reduce our carbon footprint and that of our customers. At Interpack, we look forward to discussing these achievements with visitors to our stand and looking for ways to help them achieve their sustainability goals as well.”
Henckes notes that the company’s sustainability strategy targeted achievement of 100% green power by 2026, and the company is operating ahead of its objectives at this point. “There is still more work to be done,” he adds, “and we are tackling those objectives as well with enthusiasm, expertise and the outstanding work of our R&D team. This has helped us in our overall sustainability objectives as well. In 2020 in Europe, we had 156,500 tons of CO2 emissions across Scope 1 and 2; we reduced that to 138,832 tons in 2021, representing a year-over-year reduction of 11.3%.”
Sustainable products at Interpack
In addition to sharing United Caps’ energy achievements, the company is showing other innovations that fall into the sustainability category.
These include:
Tethered closures, including the new 23 H-PAK for carton packaging which include an innovative tamper-evident (TE) band that keeps all parts intact for easier recycling, one of the first of its kind in the market.
The Mimica Bump Cap, formerly the Mimica Touchcap, an innovative intelligent freshness indicator cap designed to reduce food waste and change the way people think about how they can actively fight food waste. The Bump Cap makes it easy to determine if food has begun to degrade. Not only is reducing food waste important for the planet, but this alone also reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
ISCC Plus certified closures where bio-based or recycled resin is used. ISCC Plus is a sustainability certification program for bio-based and circular (recycled) raw materials.
In addition, United Caps is demonstrating a range of weight reduction techniques at the show, ranging from enabling smaller neck finishes to MuCell plastic reduction techniques.
At Interpack, United Caps is at Hall 10, Stand D67.
(PSA’s team of Naresh Khanna, Shardul Sharma, Ron Augustin, and Nessan Cleary are present at Interpack to bring you exclusive stories, insights, and scoops from the ground.)
