Establishing a rigorous method to design sustainable products is fundamental to create a range of harmonised products, the Group believes. They are conceived with a view to providing real solutions for sustainable development. The purpose of the document is to outline all of the steps that designers should follow, from concept to finished product.
Four models to achieve these goals are explained: Design to Reduce – a principle based on eco-design and on eliminating anything that is not necessary; Design to Change – abandoning finite resources and adopting recycled materials or materials produced from renewable sources; Design to Fade – this approach entails making the waste disappear by changing to biodegradable polymers and by using few, easily removable components; and Design to Revive – achieved by recovering and recycling the materials used in the closures.
The company believes these guidelines are a major step in the development of sustainable packaging. They help to support clients’ needs and propose closures that meet key stakeholder expectations.
Through this initiative and other actions, Guala Closures intends to achieve the challenging objective of using 35% of recycled materials by 2025. So these guidelines are further step in the Group’s commitment to supporting its clients in their own CSR strategies, with packaging that meets their consumers’ concerns and comply with growing retail requirements.
Fulvio Bosano, R&D Director of Guala Closures Group, who coordinated the development and implementation of the eco-design guidelines commented, “These guidelines are a very big step towards providing our customers with products which meet their requirements on performance, quality and sustainable performance. They can be guaranteed Guala Closures has looked at every aspect in the development of the best closure for their needs.”
The development of innovative sustainable closures started a few years ago with the commercial launch of Greencap® , a screw cap for wine that allows safe separation of aluminium and glass after use (developed by the R&D centre in Italy); and a luxury closure for tequila, made from a bio-based composite resin using 30% agave fibres (obtained from the waste that remains after the tequila distillation process) and 70% polypropylene (developed by the R&D centre in Mexico). Recently, a t-bar closure for a rum brand composed of a 100% recycled ABS plastic with agglomerated cork (developed by the R&D centre in the UK) was also added to the portfolio.
Today, Guala Closures Group intends to further accelerate its commercial strategy by proposing a larger choice of closure solutions, with an increased focus on the selection of the most advanced alternative sustainable materials, as well as on the closures’ end of life
Maurizio Mittino, Sustainability Director for the Group said, “Guala Closures’ own CSR commitment is at the core of its future development plans. We recognise the need for a common strategy which will provide certainty and clarity to our customers. These guidelines help us to achieve this.”
With its continuous development programme, the Group intends to launch, later in 2020, a comprehensive range of sustainable closures for wine, spirits, and beverages, all of which meet at least one of the four design models listed in the guidelines.
