New lightweight ends from Rexam

New lightweight beverage can ends that offer savings of up to 10% are being produced at Rexam’s plant in Waterford, Ireland.

The plant is the first to produce the lightweight ends, with production starting during the first quarter of 2012.

While retaining the existing benefit of being 100% recyclable, CDL ends use 10% less metal, compared with standard beverage can ends. The metal savings are achieved through a combination of a reduction in the blank diameter of the end and the gauge of the metal. This reduced metal usage, therefore, results in considerable savings on raw materials.

The Waterford plant will produce 2.5 billion ends a year and a phased roll-out will also see Rexam’s Usine de Mont plant in the south of France adopt the technology towards the end of 2012, with a capacity to make 3.5 billion lightweight ends.

This initial investment in lightweight ends is expected to save over 1,800 tonnes of metal per year which will save over 14,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Rexam’s plan is then over the coming years to adapt its end plants across Europe to be able to offer the CDL end to customers.

John Revess, vice president environmental affairs at Rexam Beverage Can Europe, said: “At Rexam we are proud of our commitment to sustainability, both in the way we work, and in our offerings to customers. This new lightweight end has been through extensive testing as part of Rexam’s rigorous research and development process and we believe that these ends are the lightest on the market in terms of delivering the functional performance that Rexam and its customers require. This initial investment in Ireland and France during 2012 is just the start and is part of Rexam’s industry leading light weighting programme which has seen the aluminium beverage can become 40% lighter over the last 40 years.”