Income Taxes Income Taxes - Additional Information (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Current deferred tax assets	$ 22,400,000	$ 23,700,000
Long term deferred tax assets	19,900,000	19,600,000
Long term deferred tax liabilities	271,300,000	252,200,000
Valuation allowance, amount	7,858,000	11,704,000
Valuation allowance, deferred tax asset, change in amount	(3,800,000)
Unrecognized tax benefits, income tax penalties and interest accrued	3,400,000	2,800,000
Unrecognized tax benefits, net of associated tax assets and excluding federal tax benefit of state taxes, interest and penalties recorded in Other Liabilities	27,800,000	26,700,000
Asset associated with uncertain tax position recorded in Other Assets	16,100,000	15,900,000
Unrecognized tax benefits would impact effective tax rate	11,800,000	11,600,000
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		20,500,000
Undistributed earnings from foreign earnings	74,300,000
Deferred tax liability related to undistributed earnings from foreign earnings If the earnings of foreign subsidiaries were not indefinitely reinvested	26,000,000
Unrecognized Tax Benefits, Decrease Resulting from Settlements with Taxing Authorities	50,000	28,346,000
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member] | Silgan Holdings [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	3,700,000
Foreign Tax Authority [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	24,700,000
Net operating loss carryforward subject to expiration	12,200,000
Foreign Tax Authority [Member] | Minimum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards, expiration year	2015
Foreign Tax Authority [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards, expiration year	2025
State and Local Jurisdiction
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	5,500,000
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	2032
Deferred Tax Asset, Operating Loss Carryforwards, Domestic
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Valuation allowance, amount	$ 7,900,000