Income Taxes Income Taxes - Additional Information (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Current deferred tax assets	$ 23,700,000	$ 34,000,000
Long term deferred tax assets	19,600,000	10,100,000
Long term deferred tax liabilities	252,200,000	193,000,000
Valuation allowance, amount	11,704,000	12,361,000
Valuation allowance, deferred tax asset, change in amount		700,000
Net operating loss carryforwards, expiration year	2021
Unrecognized tax benefits, income tax penalties and interest accrued	2,800,000	4,800,000
Unrecognized tax benefits, net of associated tax assets and excluding federal tax benefit of state taxes, interest and penalties	26,700,000	49,500,000
Asset associated with uncertain tax position	15,900,000	16,000,000
Unrecognized tax benefits would impact effective tax rate	11,600,000	32,800,000
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	20,500,000
Undistributed earnings from foreign earnings	67,400,000
Deferred tax liability related to undistributed earnings from foreign earnings If the earnings of foreign subsidiaries were not indefinitely reinvested	23,600,000
Unrecognized Tax Benefits, Decrease Resulting from Settlements with Taxing Authorities	28,346,000	0
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member] | Silgan Holdings [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards		9,500,000
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member] | Portola Packaging, Inc [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards		300,000
State and Local Jurisdiction
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards		4,600,000
State and Local Jurisdiction | Minimum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards, expiration year		2015
State and Local Jurisdiction | Maximum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards, expiration year		2024
Deferred Tax Asset, Operating Loss Carryforwards, Domestic
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Valuation allowance, amount	$ 11,700,000