CanSealing Systems sees an opportunity for canmakers to reclaim their own defective and obsolete cans and turn them into saleable, brite cans or digitally decorated stock. Every canmaking line produces cans that never reach a filler. They may be misprinted or carry graphics that have gone out of date, or have coating defects inside the can. CanSealing estimates that such cans account for roughly 3% of production, representing a significant volume of unused stock going to scrap.

The Colorado-based equipment and process company believes there is value to recover from those cans, and it makes sense for canmakers to do it on their own factory floor or in a nearby location. The company combines can reclamation to create the “Better Brite” can with digital decoration that results in the “Next-Gen Can”. Its commercial challenge is persuading an industry accustomed to recycling its scrap to put that stock back into use before it is remelted.

Defective or obsolete cans are fed into the process and emerge stripped and recoated as undecorated blanks, or “brites”, ready for an adhesive label or digital print. Stock that would otherwise have been written off can then be returned to use.

Partner Richard Smith explains: ““The CanSealing equipment is modular. A single module CanSealing Better Brite system operates at 110 cans per minute, this equals @47 million cans per year.”

Managing partner Vincent Stempfer says the process can generate revenue from otherwise unsaleable stock. “We are  future-proofing metal container manufacturing by generating revenue from non-sellable inventory, whether that is defective or misforecast,” he says. “We convert it into brites with hard-to-hold internal coating capacity, and into superior digital-printed graphics with optional digital embossing.”

How it works

Better Brite: According to CanSealing, the Better Brite process uses a laser to remove the existing label and overvarnish before the exterior is resprayed with an industry-standard overvarnish carrying proprietary additives. The internal coating is also reapplied. The result is an undecorated can ready for labelling or digital decoration.

“The equipment holds cans with no contact to the internal surface, and the reclaimed exterior is engineered as a substrate for strong digital ink adhesion,” says Smith. He says the system could be used across the value chain, from canmakers, brand owners and fillers to printers, decorators and distributors. He positions the technology as complementary to existing coating and decoration providers.

For the internal coating, the company points to its own testing with aggressive contents. It says reclaimed cans maintained pressure and integrity while control cans failed. The results are CanSealing’s own and have not been independently verified.

Digital decoration: CanSealing works with Koenig & Bauer Kammann, a Koenig & Bauer subsidiary specialising in direct decoration technology for containers. Digital printing lends itself to variable content, personalised designs and short production runs, areas where conventional high-volume decoration can be less economical.

CanSealing says its process can provide external decoration from dome to neck, including 3D tactile effects such as Braille, these characteristics define the Next-Gen Can

Separately, the company’s work on the “Summer Vibes” aluminium bottle was named Best of Category in Digital Printing at the International Metal Decorating & Packaging Association’s (IMDPA) 2026 Excellence in Quality competition. Presented at the IMDPA Annual Conference, the award recognised decoration of areas of a fully formed aluminium container that digital printing has historically struggled to reach.

CanSealing says the bottle is the first aluminium bottle to be digitally printed continuously from the bottom shoulder through the neck taper without distortion. It also carries raised 3D relief graphics printed directly onto the metal, removing the need for mechanical embossing tooling or a secondary stamping step, according to the company. The process is patent pending.

“The ‘Summer Vibes’ bottle demonstrates that brands no longer need to compromise,” says Stempfer. “Achieving full bottom-shoulder-to-neck coverage alongside digitally printed 3D relief graphics proves what advanced Koenig & Bauer Kammann digital printing capabilities can deliver at scale.”

The company also highlights consistent colour matching and smooth gradients across the bottle’s changing curvature and tapered diameters, which it attributes to close control of droplet size, deposition and placement.

Making the investment case

The company also makes a sustainability case for reclamation. CanSealing argues that a can scrapped and remelted before it is ever filled has already consumed material and energy without reaching the market. Reclaiming it instead allows that can o become a saleable, recyclable unit without manufacturing a replacement from new can stock. The company says this can free up line capacity, avoid write-offs and reduce Scope 3 emissions compared with remelting.

CanSealing estimates that a reclamation system to create Better Brite cans will pay for itself in less than 2 years converting cans at 110 cpm or @47 million annually. The company says one system could handle the pre-filling scrap generated by a single canmaking line (@2,000cpm x .03 = 60cpm). 

The CanSealing technology presents a significant revenue generating option to revolutionize the pre-filled can disposition aspect of the industry. When the financial and sustainability aspects of the current scrapping processes are brought to light and compared to the CanSealing option, potential customers are taking notice.