Europe usage

In 2004, approximately five million tons of tinplate packaging were used in Europe. Tinplate is an environmental and consumer-friendly material and is used as packaging material mainly in the following segments:

2004  Tinplate use in percent

In 2004, tinplate had a rather small part of the total German packaging market with approximately four per cent. The most frequently used packaging materials are plastic and paper and/or cardboard even though they are not recyclable without losing quality. "Downcycling" does not occur with tinplate.

Compared to other packaging materials, tinplate is the most common packaging material for food and pet food.

For example: Canned sausages and other meat products, fruits, vegetables, ready-to-eat meals, condensed milk, oils, nuts, soups

For example: Paints and other coating materials, dispersions, base coatings, wood protection products, thinners, building protective agents, printing inks, glue and adhesives, lubricants, cleaning products, hair sprays, deodorants and shaving products.

Potential for innovation

Fine plates serves an important role in products such as engine seals, oil filters and brake lines.  The material characteristics – resistance to heat and cold as well as safety against breakage in relation to its light weight – make tinplate a particularly versatile material with numerous development possibilities. With the food can, the continuous wall thickness reduction means that the wall of a 425 millilitres can is only 0.14 millimetres thick. Thanks to technological innovations approximately 30 per cent of the material is saved in production compared to the 1970’s.

Beverage cans have also benefited from more efficient material usage. They are lighter than ever before. The wall thickness of a draw-wall-ironed beverage can amounts to a minimum of only eight hundredths of a millimeter. For the production of a billion beverage cans, 10,000 tons less tinplate is needed than 20 years ago. In 1976, a 0.33 Liter can and lid weighed about 38 g – in 2001 it weighs only 25 g.

Manufacturer

In the financial year 2003/2004, Germany’s only tinplate manufactuer Rasselstein GmbH, produced about 1,243,000 tons of tinplate, more precisely: 1,077,000 tons of coated material (tinned and chromed) and 166,000 tons of uncoated material. More than half of their current production is exported.  They supply approximately 400 customers in more than 80 countries.

© Informations-Zentrum Weißblech - Imprint Disclaimer