I'd love a diagram. The Silicone valve worked well. Good to implement something recyclable. I wonder where they are on the return-to-glass story and re-cycling?
> Nine years later—after 185,000 hours of product development, $1.2 million in investment, and 45 different iterations—a new design will be rolling out in the U.K. within the next couple of months.<p>Is that legal? That works out to just under $6.50 hour.
Not an industrial designer, but is there any reason this couldn't have been changed out by one "10x" designer in a dozen iterations over a few weeks/months?<p>It's a bottle cap with a valve in it, after all.
It seems there was some heavy delay - that news is from 2021 with a scheduled rollout in 2022.<p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-07-07/heinz-tomato-ketchup-introduces-first-100-recyclable-cap-delivering-the-perfect-eco-friendly-squeeze" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-07-07/heinz-to...</a>
> In the U.S., even widely recyclable soda and water bottles often end up in landfills<p>Arguably, this isn't a bad outcome. A lot of stuff that goes through the official recycling programs ends up in landfills! Landfills are cheap, effective, and safe. And if there is no market for low-quality recyclables, it's far superior to shipping them overseas to sit in open pits next to rivers.<p>> While other packaging alternatives exist, Smith says they all come with tradeoffs. Glass bottles, for example, have a larger carbon footprint than plastic during transportation, because they’re heavier. (Also, the recycling rate for glass in the U.S. is abysmally low.) The company is still experimenting with other solutions, including a paper bottle that could potentially be used with the new cap.<p>A good summary of why single use plastics are the current local minimum. It's at least nice to hear the industry regularly considers alternatives.
> Why Heinz spent 185,000 hours redesigning this ketchup bottle cap<p>I bet the new cap is also cheaper to produce. They'll recoup the 1.2 million soon.