By Susan DeGroot, Director of Food + Beverage Marketing, North America
Aptar Food + Beverage is an industry leader with more than 30 years of revolutionizing markets with packaging innovations worldwide. As the market continues to demand more sustainable product solutions, we are rising to the challenge. That is why we are proud to introduce SimpliCycle, our fully recyclable flow control valve, as one more way Aptar is bringing sustainability to the forefront of innovation for caps and closures.
As a backdrop, Aptar pioneered the use of flow control valves in caps and closures which enabled the creation of new market categories and new packaging formats, besides bringing consumers a much more convenient dispensing experience. A properly designed valve delivers the ultimate in clean, controlled and more convenient dispensing, and these benefits are especially important for brands in the food and beverage industry. In fact, with more than 40 billion valves sold to date, Aptar has been providing valves to brands all over the world, delivering on consistency, reliability and high performance. Aptar’s customers have had great success with our SimpliSqueeze® silicone valves for decades. There is good reason why brands like Kraft Heinz Company have chosen to use Aptar valves in its packaging for more than 20 years. Our valves empowered Kraft Heinz Company to revolutionize the sauces and condiments market with the introduction of the inverted rigid package format, providing consumers with a more convenient, easy, and enjoyable dispensing experience.
To increase the recyclability of caps and closures that include flow control valves, Aptar recently launched SimpliCycle, a more sustainable alternative to silicone valves. SimpliCycle is made of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), which has a density low enough to float to the top of a separation tank used in the mechanical recycling process, along with polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) materials. However, unlike silicone, TPE can be melted and combined with PP and PE to create feedstocks that can be recycled into the manufacturing stream. This streamlines the recycling process by eliminating the need to sort silicone out of the waste stream prior to further processing.
Even though the valve is a small part of an overall package, it plays a big role in its ability to be fully recycled. Furthermore, a recyclable valve directly enables our customers to achieve their bold environmental goals of full packaging recyclability, allowing them to contribute to a more circular economy. This is one of many ways Aptar is fulfilling its sustainability commitments, including those made to the Ellen MacArthur New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It is part of our commitment to a circular vision in which plastic never becomes waste.
Besides promoting full packaging recyclability, SimpliCycle is the only solution in the market today that can meet the same high performance as silicone valves.
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