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Push/pull caps: from fad to fixture

"We thought for a while that [sports caps] would be a fad, but now I think they're here to stay." So says Mountain Valley Springs president Tom Mitchell in explaining his company's move to push-pull sports caps on 0.5-L and 1-L bottles of water.

Pw 23167 Wethofora 11

The company, based in Hot Springs National Park, AR, selected a sports cap from Creative Packaging (Buffalo Grove, IL). Its green and gold components complement a recent label change that celebrated the company's 125th anniversary. They also complement the company's signature green bottles. The spout itself is made of linear low-density polyethylene; the cap, as well as the overcap, are polypropylene. A polyvinyl chloride shrink band from Seal-It (Farmingdale, NY) displays a repeated "consider the source" slogan, a reference to the water's Hot Springs source. As a matter of quality control, Mountain Valley began stretch/blow-molding its own polyethylene terephthalate bottles last year. They're filled on-site. Sold throughout most of the U.S., the product's retail prices are 69¢ and 99¢ for the 0.5-L and 1-L bottles, respectively.

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