Japanese canmaker Toyo Seikan is ready to start commercial production for its 'low carbon' EcoEnd beverage end, developed with canstock manufacturer UACJ.

The EcoEnd is made using a high proportion of recycled aluminium sourced from used beverage cans (UBCs). This gives a saving in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 40% because rather than having two melting processes for cans and ends, a single melting operation is used.

Toyo Seikan has set up a new end making system which includes the procurement of recycling materials by UACJ, as well as the installation of end manufacturing equipment at Toyo Seikan’s Ishioka canmaking plant.

The EcoEnd design contains a larger proportion of recycled materials which generate just 3% of the GHG emissions produced by primary aluminium. Toyo Seikan said that according to its own research, "EcoEnd reduces GHG emissions by approximately 13,000 tonnes per billion lids" in comparison with current beverage ends.

Toyo Seikan reckons that if all of its beverage ends were made using the EcoEnd process it would save 140,000 tonnes of GHGs a year.

Without revealing the exact proportions, Toyo Seikan said: "The material in the EcoEnd reduces the use of primary aluminium and increases the proportion of recycled materials, such as used beverage cans (UBC), so that it matches the composition of the can body more closely.

"At the point of melting, the material of the EcoEnd and the can body can be considered the same mono-material." After melting, the composition of the material is adjusted with alloying metals to create the appropriate 3000 series and 5000 series characteristics required for the body and end respectively.

Toyo Seikan said: "The development of the EcoEnd has made it possible to circulate a large amount of recycled materials in the lid, which was previously challenging, through post-melting composition adjustment and manufacturing techniques."

Furthermore, the company claimed that there would be no change in the gauge of the EcoEnd in the Japanese market. Development is under way of an EcoEnd for the international market.

Toyo Seikan said equipment to attach the lid after beverage filling would not need to be changed, as the gauge had not changed, enabling a "smooth replacement". 

"By combining the material manufacturing technology by UACJ and the lid forming technology by Toyo Seikan, EcoEnd has achieved the same quality performance as the current lids, even with increased use of recycled materials," the company added. 

More recycled materials "will be used in the lid" in future, said the canmaker, which will lead to "a reduction in GHG emissions due to the decrease in primary aluminium usage".