Closed-loop mono-material PET pump for healthcare and personal care
Innovative mono-material PET pump design for healthcare and personal care applications, enabling curbside recyclability and closed-loop recycling. This design replaces multi-material assemblies, offering precise dosing, leak-proof performance, and compatibility with high-speed filling.
Overview
NVIRO1 Pty Ltd has developed an innovative closed-loop pump design utilizing mono-material PET for healthcare and personal care products. This solution replaces traditional multi-material assemblies with a single polymer system, allowing the pump to be fully recyclable with the bottle. By leveraging NVIRO1's patented technology in low-torque sealing and undercut demoulding, the pump achieves precise dosing, leak-proof performance, and compatibility with high-speed filling. The design also supports future integration with post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET and refillable formats, promoting sustainability and circularity in packaging.
Technical specifications
Key features include:
- Mono-material construction: Made entirely from PET or PET with ≤5% compatible additives, facilitating curbside recyclability.
- Versatile applications: Available in formats for sprays (≤0.5 mL) and creams/gels (≤1 mL).
- Performance: Ensures precise dosing and leak-proof operation.
- Manufacturing: Lightweight, scalable moulding process compatible with high-speed filling lines.
- Sustainability: Supports closed-loop recycling and potential integration with refillable and PCR designs.
Technology readiness level
The technology is currently at TRL 4, which indicates that the basic technological components have been validated in a laboratory environment. Future steps include prototype development, bench testing for performance metrics such as dosing accuracy and leak resistance, and recyclability validation through curbside protocols.
About NVIRO1 Pty Ltd
Nviro1 Pty Ltd is a sustainable packaging company that has developed a patented PET closure, known as nviroCap, designed to enable truly circular, mono-material packaging. By utilizing the same PET plastic for both the bottle and the cap, the technology eliminates the need for component separation during the recycling process, effectively closing the loop on PET bottle-to-bottle recycling. The closure features a lightweight, high-performance design capable of withstanding 175 psi, making it suitable for a wide range of applications including still and carbonated beverages, foods, detergents, and edible oils. The design also incorporates low-friction sealing to reduce microplastic shedding, providing a solution that is compatible with existing high-speed bottling lines and tethered cap requirements.
This innovation addresses significant technical barriers that previously prevented PET from being used for caps, such as challenges with sealing integrity, torque, and efficient manufacturing. By enabling 100% PET composition, nviro1 helps global brands and packaging manufacturers meet circular economy targets and comply with increasing regulatory pressures, such as the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Founded by award-winning product designer Mark Goodall, the Sydney-based company is actively seeking licensing and manufacturing partnerships to scale its technology across global markets, aiming to reduce waste, lower production costs, and accelerate the transition toward sustainable, single-stream plastic manufacturing.
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