Smurfit Kappa has patented a new innovative Vitop® Uno tap which is the first tap in the Bag-in-Box® market to have attached tamper protection.
The new tap design is compliant with the forthcoming Single Use Plastics Directive as it does not require the consumer to remove the tamper protection. Instead, it is deactivated when the product is first used and remains an integral part of the tap without affecting the subsequent use of the Bag-in-Box® product. Under the Single Use Plastics Directive, which comes into effect in 2024, only single-use plastic beverage containers up to 3L will be allowed on the market if their caps and lids remain attached.
This innovative solution eliminates the possibility of the tamper protection plastic ending up in the environment which can happen with detachable tamper protections. After use, the consumer can easily separate the box from the bag with the tap and send them for recycling in accordance with their country’s recycling regulations.
“We built this tap, with the prospective option of a full transition to mono-material, to be suitable for recycling into the existing flexible polyethylene stream,” said Didier Pontcharraud, CEO, Vitop.
“Bag-in-box® recyclability is one of the most frequent requests from our customers nowadays,” added Thierry Minaud, CEO, Smurfit Kappa Bag-in-Box. “Our target is to offer the most sustainable solutions that can be recycled on a large scale across different countries in the near future.”
Over the past year, tests on the Vitop® Uno in France, Spain and Sweden have shown that the convenience of the new tap remains the same and that the environmental aspect of the packaging has a positive effect on consumer purchase intentions. The tap is patented in Europe, the USA and a number of other countries.
