TotalEnergies Lubrifiants and BERICAP have come together to incorporate 50% post-consumer recycled plastic into a closure for 20-litre lubricant packaging, a move intended to reduce virgin plastic consumption.
BERICAP sources the raw material from TotalEnergies’ RE:clic range of circular polymers. Its rPE57525 aspires for similar performance to virgin materials by applying a ‘high-performing’ booster to mechanically recycled polyethylene.
This material is processed into can closures and will be applied to 20-litre premium lubricant cans made in France and Belgium. By gradually integrating the recycled closures across its lubricant ranges, TotalEnergies Lubrifiants hopes to lower its use of virgin plastics.
While the development aligns with DIN 60 standards for lubricants, the companies anticipate that switching from the DIN 60 standard closure to DIN 60 ECO will deliver weight savings of 25%. In turn, it is set to comply with both organizations’ circularity-minded strategies and commitments.
Carsten Pfromm, business development director Industrial at BERICAP, explained: “At BERICAP we are committed to a long-term strategy of contributing to a circular economy by developing user-friendly, resource-conserving and recyclable closures. For that reason we are more than happy to collaborate with partners such as TotalEnergies Lubrifiants.
“The new DIN 60 closure for the 20-liter packaging is another example of weight reduction without sacrificing quality or user-friendliness. 25% less weight and the use of PCR makes a significant contribution to the reduction of our carbon footprint and the advancement of closed-loop material cycles. We can also offer other closures such as DIN 45 and 51 in PCR.”
“Our collaboration with BERICAP on this range of 20-liter packaging closures demonstrates our shared commitment to circular economy,” continued Emir Cetin, global packaging manager at TotalEnergies Lubrifiants. “We are excited to begin using these new closures made with 50% recycled plastic. This initiative will set a new standard for sustainability in the lubricant packaging cap industry.”
“We are committed to helping our partners achieve their sustainability goals and to addressing the challenge of end-of-life plastics,” added TotalEnergies vice president Olivier Greiner. “This development responds to the growing demand for more innovative and sustainable plastics and fully contributes to our ambition to reach one million tons of circular polymers a year by 2030.”
Last year, TotalEnergies announced that the platinum-coloured bottles for its premium lubricant range in Europe contained 50% post-consumer recycled HDPE sourced from its own polymer range.
Repsol recently made its own move to implement 60% mechanically recycled post-consumer plastic into its lubricant containers. The packaging is available in five different colours across its different product ranges and will apply to 1L, 4L, and 5L variants.
Meanwhile, Essentra PLC is implementing post-consumer recycled content and biodegradable bioplastics into its protective caps and plugs following its acquisition of BMP TAPPI.
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