Kraft Heinz Company has unveiled its first fully recyclable cap for the widely recognized squeezy ketchup bottle. This marks a collaborative achievement, harnessing the innovative design and manufacturing capabilities of Berry Global. The initiative aims to support retail brands in their shift towards more sustainable packaging solutions.
Historically, Heinz sauce bottles utilized a flexible silicone valve to dispense a consistent portion of sauce per squeeze. However, this design posed challenges in terms of recyclability. Now, in collaboration with Berry Global, Heinz has made a significant shift to a mono-material cap manufactured in PP. This strategic change ensures that the packaging meets the necessary requirements for recyclability.
The project spanned eight years, encompassing 45 prototypes and over 185,000 hours of development to achieve the ideal equilibrium between functionality and sustainability. Berry played a pivotal role throughout the entire process, participating in the design and production phases—from conceptualization to crafting the series tools within Berry’s in-house tool shop. Additionally, Berry contributed to the development of assembly equipment for industrial production.
Heinz adhered to a meticulous testing protocol to ensure that the cap adhered to the highest quality standards. An extensive consumer survey affirmed that the novel concept would be positively embraced by the public, given its consistent dispensing of the perfect amount of sauce without compromising squeezability.
In fact, the study discovered that the latest cap design allows consumers to extract more ketchup from the bottle, particularly when it is nearly empty. This highlights Berry’s comprehensive approach to improving the cap’s performance while also addressing recyclability.
The idea secured the Rigid Pack of the Year award for Kraft Heinz during the 2023 UK Packaging Awards.
Matthias Hammersen, sales director – Food Market at Berry Global, said, “Heinz set us the kind of challenge that suits us and our development departments best: to reconstruct the design of the cap to make it fully recyclable, without affecting the performance that millions of consumers know and love. We’re delighted that the finished result exceeds our initial expectations and actually improves the consumer experience.”
The caps are currently being introduced nationwide in the UK, specifically on 400ml and larger top-down bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, including the 50% Less Sugar and Salt varieties. Moving forward, there are plans to extend the rollout of the cap to encompass a broader range of Heinz sauces in both the UK and Europe.
By transitioning to the recyclable cap, Heinz asserts that it has the potential to prevent 300 million plastic lids from ending up in landfills each year on a global scale.
Jojo de Noronha, president of Kraft Heinz Northern Europe, said, “We know our consumers care about their impact on the environment and so do we, which is why we’re delighted to see our innovative, more sustainable caps on Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles across the UK. Although a small change, this makes it easy for the millions of Heinz lovers across the country to recycle their whole squeezy bottle at once – a small action with big potential for impact.”
