Bericap’s tethered caps find favor with consumers in real-life scenario testing

09 May 2022 --- Bericap has commissioned a consumer survey of its ClipAside Tethered Caps, revealing that users are impressed by their practicality and recycling performance. The EU’s Single Use Plastics Directive requires that caps and lids on beverage containers up to 3 L remain firmly attached to bottles after opening from July 3, 2024. Tethered caps play an important role in preventing litter, remaining attached to containers after use. 

The survey involved citizens aged between 18 and 80 and their families. Survey respondents tested the new closures on 1.5 L mineral water bottles in real-life scenarios for a period of a week.

A majority of consumers surveyed rated Bericap’s tethered caps more positively than conventional closures. The users praised the easy and intuitive handling when opening, closing and drinking, and the hygiene benefits of the closures since it is impossible for the closure to fall onto the floor and get dirty, which can occur with conventional closures.

Tethering the cap to the bottle also ensures that the closure and bottle remain together in the recycling process. The supplier says many consumers are not aware of this ecological advantage of tethered caps.. However, as soon as they realize it, for example, after reading information on the bottle label, they rate the environmental sustainability aspect positively.

The “very good” user experience associated with the ClipAside closure will also have a positive impact on consumer perceptions of beverage brands and customer loyalty. The first well-known customers in the carbonated soft drinks, mineral water and fruit juices segments already have products with the new Bericap ClipAside closure on the market.Most consumers surveyed rated Bericap’s tethered caps as an improvement on conventional closures.

Proven practicality
ClipAside has gone through the design, development to market readiness and market launch phases, and is now in the fourth phase: post-launch monitoring.

The adjustments that had been made to optimize the user-friendliness of the new closure system – based on the consumer and handling tests conducted in the design phase – met with a “very positive” response from the testers, as did the high quality of the closures and their ability to withstand being opened and closed multiple times.

“The consumer survey has confirmed that the ClipAside offers many benefits to users aside from its recycling advantages,” said Thomas Schmidt, Group Marketing Director at BERICAP. “The ClipAside design impressed respondents in every respect: from handling, convenience, hygiene and sustainability to robustness in daily use. When the user experiences this level of convenience in use, it has positive impacts for beverage brands,” says Thomas Schmidt, group marketing director at Bericap.

Intuitive and easy handling
Consumers felt that the biggest advantage of ClipAside was its simplicity of use. It looks and is used very much like a conventional screw closure, so most people can open it intuitively – without prior knowledge and without looking on the bottle for instructions.

 In fact, the closures can easily be opened with one hand while performing other tasks, by elderly people with mobility limitations or by children. Only very few people in the survey had to get used to the new closure, for example, because they did not realize that there was no need to remove it from the bottle.

However, by the time they had opened their third bottle, virtually all of them were able to perform the ‘twist and clip aside’ mechanism just as well as the other respondents. Visible and clear instructions should be provided on the bottle label to explain handling and answer any questions the user may have.Consumers were pleased that the closure is leak-proof during after being opened and closed.

Consumers also liked the fact that the closure is 100% leak-proof during transportation and storage after being opened and closed multiple times. The tethered cap can be opened 180 degrees and fixed in place for easy pouring or drinking straight out of the bottle. Even after it had been opened and closed 30 times, the closure did not detach from the bottle. The parallel tethers, a unique design element of ClipAside, prevent overbending or breakage, even when misused.

Flexible switchover to tethered caps
Bericap has created the technical framework for the beverage industry to easily and flexibly switch over to the ClipAside tethered closure system due to its proven compatibility with all relevant neck finishes from 26 to 38 mm.

The flexible slit band technology allows customers to make the adaptations to their production lines for the new closure dimensions today and then decide spontaneously whether to initially continue with the current TE band slit or change over to the new tethered caps. They can remain very flexible in this respect because a changeover from the current TE band geometry to tethered caps doesn’t necessitate any further adaptations to the production lines.

When the customer is ready to launch bottles with the new caps, they can then execute the switch without any further modifications to the filling equipment. This flexibility is very useful for beverage manufacturers outside Europe, where tethered requirements are not mandatory yet, but might be in the future, the company says.

Edited by Joshua Poole