Smurfit Kappa introduces automated paper-based can topper system for craft brewery

20 Feb 2024 --- Smurfit Kappa has collaborated with Belgian craft brewery BeerSelect to introduce the end-to-end packaging system named TopClip to replace plastic shrink wrap with a paper-based alternative.

The Mid-Speed TopClip machine, installed at BeerSelect’s green-field brewery, can handle 30,000 cans per hour. Its flexibility allows for switching between configurations to bundle four, six and eight packs of cans, catering to the brewery’s diverse product range.

TopClip offers a 30% lower carbon footprint than traditional shrink wrap and is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable. Moreover, the system covers the top of the cans, protecting them from contamination and displays the products more effectively compared to the complete wrap-around solutions commonly used for canned drinks. It also has two die-cut holes, which allows the packs to be handled on-the-go.

Smurfit Kappa shares that the solution has received “excellent feedback” in consumer tests. 

“The TopClip automated system that we specially designed for small and medium-sized breweries has really taken off,” says Koen De Winter, European project and machine systems manager at Smurfit Kappa.

“We knew that TopClip was the ideal Better Planet Packaging solution to meet BeerSelect’s needs and through building the machine for them, it became an even more effective and holistic solution.” 

TopClip covers the top of the cans, protecting them from contamination and displays the products more effectively.On-the-go multipacks
The collaboration between Smurfit Kappa and BeerSelect underscores the growing importance of sustainability in the beverage industry. The packager says TopClip is “significantly more sustainable than other recently launched same-purpose packaging solutions on the market.”

It uses less material and does not require glue while being suitable for multipack canned beverages. Furthermore, Smurfit Kappa’s Mid-Speed TopClip machine is a result of its partnership with filling and packaging equipment manufacturer KHS.

Kasper Peeters, co-founder of BeerSelect, shares that with TopClip, the brewer found a solution that “fits perfectly within our sustainability mindset. The most tangible benefit is using a packaging solution that will not harm the environment, and the implementation of a tailor-made machine system has made a big difference to both the ease and speed of production.”

Beverage packaging updates
Recently, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) invested over €11.5 million (US$11.6 million) to modernize its KHS filling and packaging equipment at CMBC’s brewery in Northampton, UK, to boost environmental standards in its production operations.

With the energy-efficient Innofill Can DVD filler and resource-conserving Innopack Kisters Nature MultiPack packer, two new KHS machines will improve production while reducing expected water consumption and use of plastic in packaging by increasing capacity for the clever Snap Pack Nature MultiPack, a secondary packaging system co-developed by KHS and Carlsberg Group.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria