The new FEA Statistics Report, based on production figures 2013 received from National Associations, is now freely available from the FEA website.

The European aerosol production has reached 5.53 billion units in 2013, showing a 1.8% increase

compared to 2012 which means additional 100 million units.

United Kingdom and Germany continue to represent 50% of the European aerosol production.

Production importantly increased in France (17.2%), Czech Republic (9.5%), Spain (9.2%), Turkey (6.2%) and Russia (3.6%).

The largest categories remain ‘Personal Care’ (56.4%) and ‘Household’ (22.2%), which shows increases of 2.9% and 1.8% respectively.

2.  FEA – Standards 222, 226 and 603.

Revised standards FEA 222 and FEA 603 as well as new FEA 226 are now available.

All FEA standards are all freely available from the FEA website.

FEA 222 (08/2014) Metal aerosol containers – Guideline for achieving optimum clinch conditions for containers with 25.4 mm opening: The clinch dimensions are critical to obtaining tightly sealed containers. Some gas loss over a long period of time is inevitable but may however not exceed the established annual amount. Gas leakage through the valve’s internal sealing gasket, or side seam of containers is not discussed here.

FEA 226 (08/2014) Plastic aerosol containers – Guideline for achieving optimum external crimp

conditions for containers with 25.4 mm opening: The external crimp dimensions are critical to obtain tightly sealed containers. Some gas loss over a long period of time is inevitable but may however not exceed the established annual amount. Gas loss through the internal sealing gaskets is not discussed here. However during the external crimping, it is also necessary to carefully assess and check:

-  the quality and performance of the seal obtained by this mean;

-  any condition change of the crimping tool during use.

FEA 603 (08/2014) Filled aerosol packs – Guidelines to test long-term preservation and to measure the loss of weight: Prior to introduction to the marketplace the integrity of the sealing of the valve to the container, the compatibility of the packaging components in the presence of the product and the quality of contents during storage of filled aerosol products must be assured by rigorous controls during formulation and manufacture. This may be achieved by undertaking storage tests to check the effect of time on both the formulation and packaging specification. In addition these types of storage tests can be undertaken to monitor the performance of a product in manufacture.