The recent USPTO grant of a patent to WestRock expands the range and sustainable impact of the company’s intellectual property ownership within the beverage packaging machinery category.

WestRock Company, a leading provider of sustainable paper and packaging solutions today announced an expansion of its CanCollar® family of multipack solutions with the introduction of CanCollar® X, a fiber-based solution for sustainable large format canned beverage packaging enabling as much as fifty percent material reduction compared to fully-enclosed traditional packaging.

As the newest addition to the family of solutions automated by the patented CanCollar Fortuna® platform, CanCollar® X uses a similar fiber-based, glue-free minimalist design preferred by consumers to maximize can visibility, is comfortable for consumers to handle and optimizes the use of material to bundle multipacks for larger formats.

“Whether it’s beer, soft drinks, or sparkling water, across the globe large multipacks of cans are packaged in shrink film,” said Chris Davidson, vice president, Sustainability at WestRock. “With CanCollar® X we have an opportunity to significantly reduce materials when compared to fully-enclosed cartons and replace hard-to-recycle plastic shrink wrap with recyclable fiber-based packaging, improving circularity at impressive scale.”

CanCollar® X is automated by the CanCollar Fortuna® platform - a newly patented beverage packaging machine that uses a series of star wheels and metering screws along with a highly innovative linear drive system to seamlessly move containers through a travel path in the machine, resulting in unprecedented accuracy of can orientation at high speeds.

“Our robust portfolio of intellectual property anchors our ability to nurture and grow successful relationships as we look to make our planet better,” said John Perkins, vice president, Global Packaging Systems. “It’s through our unique integrated position in the industry that we’re able to innovate with an expert perspective on all aspects of the process – from fiber sourcing to recycling – to arrive at thoughtful product design, make positive contributions to the circular economy, and deliver on WestRock’s promise of a more sustainable future.”

Pictured: WestRock's CanCollar® family