I know they’re supposed to be good for the environment but… God I hate those caps.
Yes I hate them as well, they always get in the way and putting the cap back on is super annoying.
However, since these bottles were introduced data has shown they work. Bottle caps were one of the most found items in trash picked up from the streets. The number of bottle caps has gone way down since these were introduced.
So I’ve accepted them. Can’t argue with data. I’ve never returned a bottle without a cap in my life. I’ve never thrown away a cap separate from the bottle. But turns out the world is full of psychopaths who throw the cap in the street. Probably the same kind of person who throws their trash by the side of the road from their car. Fuck those people.
Can you link the source of the data? I wondered, if this actually helps at all.
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC108181
Most relevant here is that they found significantly more caps than bottles, indicating that they get lost. Also lots of other single-use plastics there practically everything that can be avoided has been hit by the banhammer. Oh, cigarette butts I’d expect them to mandate those to be biodegradable in the future.
Things such as fibres from fishing nets and unidentifiable pieces of polystyrene and stuff of course don’t get addressed by this, but that’s not the point the point is to do what can be done.
Thank you!
One of the most important ones is this one: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/stemming-tide-beach-litter-2018-09-25_en
This was the basis for the decision to mandate the caps be attached to the bottles, since they found a lot of caps and less bottles. This would indicate a lot of caps get separated from their bottles, which this change should mostly fix.
The other was an interview with this guy: https://zwerfinator.nl/ I can’t find the interview, no idea why, but he hasn’t published the results yet (no idea why, it was scheduled to be published I think, but somehow got delayed). They were saying the new pfands really helped and the number of bottle caps have gone down. But this is highly depended on the location. For example a lot of research is focused on beaches, where there is obviously often a large delay between the deposition and the collection. In city centers this time is often much shorter, so the impact of changes are seen faster.
So sorry to disappoint, it’s too soon for a peer reviewed study diving into this. Also with all the other changes the EU has mandated on litter and single use plastics, it would be hard to quantify which implementation has what effect.
But my thinking was: There is for me good data showing this is an issue (which I was doubting) and the solution seems solid enough. Other changes like pfands on small bottles and cans have made a big impact (research is available for this, for example https://open.overheid.nl/documenten/ronl-8b11214f23388b3395402609d76286475b4f2908/pdf). And the people doing the research say they’ve seen results that it works. So that was enough to convince me.
If somehow the caps being attached doesn’t lead to less caps in litter, that would be a very interesting result. Without a doubt the EU would change the regulation to fix it, depending on why they think the change didn’t work. But this would not lead to the caps being like they were in the past.
I can’t find it on mobile right now. It was a preliminary result, because the attached caps haven’t been required that long. Also most countries have implemented extra pfand systems for small plastic bottles, which also helps. So it’s tricky to say which regulation helped most.
But there are plenty of sources of how many bottle caps there are in the streets and oceans. And how harmful they are to animals who think the small bright things are food.
It also makes sense, instead of the bottle and the cap becoming seperate pieces of trash, it’s now a single piece. So it reduces the number of pieces if not the volume of trash.
Also for people from the US where bottles are shredded and caps typically not recycled. In Europe the caps also don’t get recycled, but instead removed. The bottle is then checked for leaks and defects and if it passes it’s cleaned and then reused. Actually recycling plastic is hard, so this way a bottle can be used at least two or three times.
You don’t get your pfand in many cases if the cap isn’t on, as well as the label many times. This isn’t so much needed for the recycling but important for the whole process. For example groceries are required to take in bottles, but are allowed to limit this to bottles they sell. So the barcode om the label is checked for this purpose. The label is removed in the recycling process. The cap is required to motivate people to return those and not have them turn into litter. It’s also a hygiene thing for the people handling the bottles, often there is liquid still in the bottle and without the cap it comes out during handling.
I will find the data later when I’m on desktop.
Can’t argue with the data!!!
Doesn’t provide any data
So sorry, I read it a couple of weeks ago and it changed my mind. Just thought I would share. I’ll try to find what I read later, I can’t find it on mobile and search engines suck these days.
Im interested too on the data
That’s interesting. I haven’t paid attention to caps in litter.
Here they ask that you separate caps and throw them out, to make recycling the bottle easier. Even if you do a bottle return, haven’t done that in years since we have recycling, but the machine shreds the bottle and pops the top off into a separate bin, I always assumed trash
I agree with the mission of this new cap, but my thoughts were this: Coca Cola, PepsiCo, these brands are… so inhumanly big, their budgets are SO extremely deep and large. And this cap? This cap is the best they could come up with? There is not a grain of my being that can believe that. What I do know about these corporations, is that they hate working together to reduce waste. Anytime a bottle deposit system is expanded they basically stamp the floor angrily until the law forces them to adapt or get out, at which point they use the new hated rules in their marketing as if the planet was all they were thinking about all along. Right…
This cap is essentially psychological warfare against the consumer, to form negative thoughts about being responsible with plastic waste. It’s purpose is to make you angry about the new rule, while still adhering to it.
Fuck you big food products inc, I hope we introduce a deposit system on fucking everything so you can all sit in the boardroom and cry about it.
their budgets are SO extremely deep and large. And this cap? This cap is the best they could come up with?
You’re assuming that there was an expensive program to replace the entire bottling line and redesign the bottles in order to meet the EU regulation while achieving satisfactory user experience.
What likely happened is that the engineers in charge of the cap design were told to change as little as possible and came up with a design that only required changing the cap moulds. Everything else got to stay the same, saving the company’s budget for other things
Yes and no: The bottling lines don’t get replaced, and in fact the EU checked beforehand that they won’t need to be replaced because otherwise the whole thing might’ve been an undue burden on the industry and they would have to make a closer evaluation, give the industry more time to switch, etc. The new caps can be screwed on by the old machines and if not, only cheap parts need replacing.
OTOH bottle cap manufacturers very much did do their homework, or at least the ones producing good caps that beverage companies will buy did it as no beverage company wants to be the one with the awkward caps. That’s not to say that there’s not bad designs out there but those will vanish. Also some consumers seem to have skill issues, like not latching the cap into the open position.
Spot on. For this, only the bottle cap production changed, the bottling process for beverages hadn’t to be touched at all.
Additionally, the new caps use less materials, so they also save the company money.
They didn’t even change the moulds. The caps are exactly the same in many cases, except they’re not cut the entire way around.
Seems a few bottles have better design, but I have not seen those myself.
If I was the EU, I’d force these shits to get back to 1.5L reusable glass bottles with metal caps.
This cap is essentially psychological warfare against the consumer, to form negative thoughts about being responsible with plastic waste.
Are u OK? How is it meant to make the consumer think they are responsible?
Causing annoyance to the user directs frustration towards the regulator and not the implementor.
Apple is doing this in the EU for example to “protest” recent regulations.
“This is annoying. Fuck those lefties for forcing me to have to deal with this, fOr ThE eNvIrOnMeNt.”
Am i the only person that likes the new caps? They prevent me from dropping them
Like them too. Felt odd when I got one the first time, but now I just don’t mind it. The cap doesn’t get in the way, and it’s easy to put back on
They are really well designed too. They lock into place when flipped 180 degrees (drinking mode) and don’t interfere at all while drinking.
I hear people complaining about this all the time, but I have yet to encounter this issue. I just flip it away, and it’s… not bothering me at all
Mmh seems like a different type. They always get in the way for me and don’t lock into place. Haven’t encountered those types yet
The ones that flip and stay in place are fine. Not a fan of the ones on a little plastic ribbon.
Boy do I love the cap snapping back to its place while trying to pour something. I just rip them off when I open the bottle now.
I don’t get it.
It stays open, you can drink from it, you can pour from it, you can pour into it.
What action does the cap staying attached prevent, warranting its detachment?
I’m seriously asking. I don’t get it. What inconvenience?
Maybe your bottles are different, but the bottles here in Germany have a very short “leash” and are often connected to the right in two places, so it constantly pushes in your face when drinking.
If an actual problem would have been solved, I’d be fine with it, but it’s just a pointless law which only exists to create the illusion of progress and shift blame onto consumers.
Rotate the bottle 90 degrees so the cap goes to the side of your face rather than mashing it into your nose.
…then it scratches my cheek.
Why is it so hard to understand that a useless piece of plastic in your face might be unpopular?
I guess because I’ve got used to it now and it’s entirely a non-issue in my life, I wouldn’t say it scratches my cheek at all.
If it means less microplastic in the sea, I’m all for it
And even that is dubious.
How many of the caps are actually reaching the ocean and is that actually a way to reduce that?
I mean, how about a European refund system? Works perfectly fine in Germany and actually makes recycling a bit easier?
These caps are empty gestures as I described above.
I can’t see how attaching them wouldn’t increase the rates at which they’re recycled.
You can believe this was never a problem perhaps, but then you’ve got to wonder why the change was made—no one is gonna profit from the design of bottle caps changing, so what’s the motive for the change if it’s not a problem? Contrary to the somewhat common belief, politicians tend to try and not waste time on useless legislation.
A refund system costs money, this change basically doesn’t.
It was implemented as a symbol. I described it above.
The entire idea, similar to the carbon footprint, are attempts by the fossil industry to shift responsibility away from them and towards consumers. We from BP and BASF would love to stop pollution, but you guys keep throwing away the bottle caps! So they lobby the European Parliament to enact such regulations, the Parliament can act like they actually did something and the industry can keep producing plastics.
Yes, other solutions would cost more money. But these solutions would have at least a realistic chance to change something.
Remember the straight cucumber regulation? That was demanded by the retail industry. So it’s not like the EU doesn’t enact regulations for some lobby groups.
And if you think these caps are doing anything, the fossil industry fooled you successfully.
Less plastics on your streets, in your yards, and fields, is also an important goal
Then introduce a refund system. Has been proven to work in Germany for over 20 years.
And as I wrote in another comment already: these regulations are a distraction so that the real problems can be ignored. They are actively harmful.
If that’s the biggest annoyance in your life, I want your life!
It’s not, and it’s disingenuous to imply that this is what I wrote.
You’re building a straw man.
If you only have one annoyance big enough to complain about I want your life.
Many of the new bottle caps I encounter will actively push back into the closed position, meaning I have to keep them out of the way when pouring if I don’t want to pour over the cap. Since I tend to encounter them on drink cartons rather than bottles, because I don’t drink soda etc, it becomes even more annoying. Bottles you can turn whichever way, but drink cartons need to be kept at a certain angle for optimal pouring. Quite often the cap is in the way and there isn’t really a nice place to put it.
This is even more frustrating because I never lost these caps anyway, I always threw them away with the packaging. I understand that it probably helps in the bigger picture, but for me personally it solves nothing and is incredibly annoying.
Edit: two examples
This one is fine, it snaps into a position that’s handy and out of the way:
This one is very annoying. It’ll stay in this position and requires constant force to keep out of this position. When opening or closing the packaging the attachment point also rotes, meaning it’s always in the wrong place:
Funnily enough, I despise with every cell of my body the first cap. When opening the first time, it always create a mess by shooting liquid everywhere. And after that, it feels fo flimsy that it would break any second.
Hmmm yeah, now that you mention it I do remember a few occasions of launching soy milk throughout the kitchen. Still I prefer it over the second one though. After it’s been opened once, it’s much less in the way.
Wait, the Dutch Optimel brand doesn’t have attached caps. I think? Or I just mindlessly rip the caps off so they are loose? It doesn’t make any sense to have those be attached with an angle like that.
it’s attached and no it doesn’t make any sense and it sucks
The cap pokes my face if I try to drink from it without tearing it off. When I tear it off there’s then a sharp edge that pokes my hand every time I open or seal it.
With the bottles I have seen so far you can just push the cap a bit further so it is at an 180 degree angle and out of the way when drinking from the bottle.
Yep exactly they latch in a wide open position.
At this point there might still be experimental versions around, stuff which companies made and want to use up, but sooner than later you’ll only see the good, successful versions on bottles. The rest is muscle memory and, if you don’t have the physical/mechanical intelligence to figure out a latching mechanism yourself, learning by observing other people successfully not stabbing their faces.
Valid, I’ve mostly been pouring soda into glasses, and at least with my face, that doesn’t happen.
This is such a bizarre design. I wonder why they don’t just make a bit of a longer “leash” attaching the cap to the ring. Because then the cap wouldn’t detached but it also wouldn’t be annoyingly in the way like this.
Here in the US, I haven’t seen these bottles yet, but I wonder if we’ll be getting them at some point. :p
It’s attached by two “leashes” and if you yank it a bit the other rips off making it pretty much what you described but it’ll still tangle all over your face when you try to drink straight from the bottle and also now you have the sharp bit poking you every time you screw and unscrew the cap. This is not the only design we have. I just happen to shop at LIDL and their bottles are all like this. Some other designs are slightly better.
It gets in the way of everything all the time
That said, i have seen good and bad examples of this.
No it doesn’t? I buy a bottle of something every day, these have never been trouble. Not once.
The first time I noticed it I thought, “neat” and that’s it.
How does it get in the way? You open it and it stays there. Out of the way of anything you might use a bottle for.
Are there different ones? Because I’ve only ever seen the one, and it’s the same one everyone hates on in pictures and videos online. Yet people say there are good ones and bad ones?
I don’t get it.
It seems other people have different experiences. I find the caps mildly annoying as they do seem to get in the way when pouring and refilling, and they are slightly more difficult to screw back on to the bottle.
Out of the way of anything you might use a bottle for.
Everything except drinking from it! The scratchy cap touching my face and the sugary drips falling on me detract from the whole experience.
The ones on the soda bottles are attached so closely to the ring that it makes it hard to put the cap back on. Because they are attached on one side, you always put the cap on at an angle which prevents you from screwing it closed. You have to pull the cap up a bit while closing to ensure it goes on straight. It’s a minor annoyance but half of the time it takes multiple attempts to put the cap back on.
On many bottles I’ve encountered the ring that keeps the cap attached to the bottleneck has been quite loose, so you rotate the cap up/left/right, thinking you’re good to pour, then as you get going the cap slips back down, ensuring you distribute whatever you were pouring all over the the table.
On larger bottles when I pour into a glass the attached lid always swings round. And it’s awkward to hold it wwhile pouring.
The people complaining about that are mostly the same as the ones who complained that the masks were “suffocating” them during covid.
Oh shut the fuck up, that’s not true at all. It can be annoying without it being some kind of nefarious political issue. What a cynical person you are.
That’s not the case in Norway. We hate them equally. I hate it with a passion. Wore my mask dilligently without a fuss. Still do when I am sick and need to go to a shop.
I find it especially infuriating when driving a car. It is so hard getting it to seal properly one handed now.
How in the world did you make that assumption?
Turn the bottle 90 degrees?
It gets in the way anyway. And the amount of times I was pouring myself a drink and the cap snapped shut spilling shit everywhere is too damn high.
And when you try to screw it back on it just doesn’t fit properly.
But anyway instead of endlessly complaining about it I just twist it off because I am not a baby.
You must have issues my dude
Everybody has issues, what’s yours?
Turning the cap’s hinge on a milk carton every time you open it is not really convenient (you can’t turn the carton, it’s not round as a bottle)
That photo panel is the bottle rotated 90 degrees.
First world problems
People that can’t use their brain should not be our baseline for making stuff.
Man have I got bad news for you. Almost everything uses idiots as the baseline for making stuff. They’re so numerous. Probably because everyone’s an idiot about something.
I know. It’s still sad this is encouraged, but there is little incentive to move in the opposite direction. Better to have a lot of braindead customers I guess.
Me still ripping those things completely off defeating thier purpose. Of course I try to drink can as much as possible. Except most stores refuse to stock anything but bottled it’s frustrating.
This is why I’m glad I live in the US
Edit: this was mostly a joke. I think some of you took this personally
I’m happy such a trivial thing is what’s keeping you there.
Yes because if you had tethered bottle caps that would be your biggest issue.
I can choose to have tethered bottle caps or untethered bottle caps. Can you say the same?
Is THAT your litmus for freedom?! In some states women can’t choose to have an abortion. And in all of the states people have to choose between going to the doctor or paying rent that month… But goddamnit, at least they don’t have to deal with those pesky tethered bottle caps!
This was not an an attempt to start a huge debate. I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with that here.
Its not that I think the US is better. For instance, I think we could use some privacy and consumer rights.
I’d rather deal with a poorly designed bottle cap than half the shit we have to deal with here in the US. There’s a reason you’re getting down voted. What you said is so narrow sighted that it’s not even funny.
We have MUCH larger issues we have to deal with than a stupid bottle cap. “Glad I don’t have to deal with that here” is showing a willingness to ignore everything else.
it’s easy… instead of kicking off the bottle cap, just shoot it off!
Man we don’t even have healthcare or widespread public transit. Abortion isn’t even legal everywhere anymore.
Our country is rapidly falling apart before our eyes. Just stop man.
So can we. It’s easy to pull it off. Gotta remember to find solutions, not problems.
i don’t have to choose to sacrifice my life to survive!
Yes
Even with my old ass body of a guy who barely exercises, I still have the strength to twist off the tiny retaining plastic bit.
As show in OPs video, yes. But I usually avoid plastic bottles.
On the other hand, I’m glad these are the issues we’re combatting against, instead of a corrupt bipartisan government.
I hate this so much. I swear I have never in my life returned a bottle without the cap. How would you even lose it in the first place? What psycho opens a bottle and discards the cap? Now my pocket knife usage has increased 300% as I’m cutting this sharp plastic thinghy away every time and I’m creating way more plastic waste than ever before. I agree with a lot what the EU does but this is idiotic.
Very odd. Where I live you’re not supposed to return the bottles with the cap, they’re different plastics and the recyclers don’t want the caps. You’re supposed to throw the caps away in the regular trash.
What? So how do you get the little ring off that that rips off the cap when twisting it the first time? You just peel it off with a knife every time? You also need to peel the labels off then?
Which is weird, because most places can just sort the PET shreds from different plastic for decades now.
I leave the little ring on and nobody’s complained yet. I was just told to remove the caps one time, so I kept on throwing those out since then.
Nobody has complained because you don’t have to remove the caps.
As I said, someone did complain about the caps.
Right… you talked to one person… has it possibly occurred to you that the one person could have been wrong?
My town has stream recycling so we don’t even have to separate cardboard, plastic, and aluminum. I just chuck it all in the bin and let it be someone else’s problem.
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I did too, but I’ve actually gotten used to it now
Tbh this, when you actually just leave it properly attached it’s not much different from a water bottle lid at that point
As it has been pointed out by others, research data shows that plastic bottle caps are a significant part of trash that is washed onto beaches. In order to prevent that bottles now come with tethered caps. From this point of view this measurement might be understandable. But does one really lose the caps of these bottles that often? Is this really the problem?
Where I live these kind of bottles are part of a deposit system. When you return them at a supermarket you get your deposit (25 Cent) back. This alone ensures that these bottles barely end up anywhere in the enviroment in the first place. When these bottles are returned at the supermarket, all of the bottles do have their respective caps screwed on. This method is practical, as you can collect these bottles wtihout having to deal with leakages of excess liquids.
I never had any issues regarding that the cap is still attached to the bottle, which could be an issue when it comes to recycling these bottles. One major problem when it comes to recycling of plastics is that it is crucial that these plastics are separated by the material they are made of. That is why it is impossible to recycle compound materials, as they can’t be separated from each other (i.e. tetra pak, tetra bric). The most common way of getting rid of these kind of packings is to burn them and use their heat for generating electricity.
These plastic bottles on the other hand can be recycled easily, as they consist of only one material (PET) - given, that the label is made of the same kind of plastic like the bottle itself.
I don’t know if the bottle cap is made of the same material (PET) or if this is another kind of plastic (ABS, PS, …). Making these bottle caps from the same material as the bottle itself would impose a greater impact than tethering them onto the bottle.
At first glance this measurement sounds like a low-hanging-fruit-greenwashing-attempt that hurts nobody. Very similar to the ban of disposable plastic cutlery or the ban of plastic straws. Don’t get me wrong - I think that these things are an important step towards reducing pollution and garbage overall, but did you ever ask yourself: “How does the garbage get into the ocean in the first place?”
really reminds me of those plastic 6-pack rings that were really bad for wildlife. and the manshow idea to make em out of beef jerky. must have been 20 yrs ago
ziggy zaggy ziggy zaggy ho ho hoI’m annoyed by the caps but you had me at the first paragraph
I seriously don’t understand how people have problems with these, they’re absolutely fine. Not hard to use, doesn’t get in the way and you’ll never lose them. And if all else fails you can just pull them off, not hard either. You gotta be dumb as fuck to have problems with them.
As with anything else, I’m absolutely certain this is the classic “something changed so I’m going to be mad about it and make up a bunch of reasons why it’s bad” thing that happens to every little change anywhere. And what is some tiny inconvenience compared to lessening plastic waste, helping the environment and hurting less living beings? Stop being such spoiled little shits and pull your heads out of your asses.
There definitely is an element of people just not liking it because it’s new, but there’s also an element of not getting any say in it whatsoever.
Also, they really do get in the way. They make it harder to get a good seal between your mouth and the bottle at any angle, and at the top they hit your nose. They are slightly harder to use, especially if you’re using one hand for any reason, including if you only have one hand. Removing them without tools results in a sharp bit of plastic which pokes and irritates your skin.
Finally, this is another patronising effort which makes consumers lives more difficult (by whatever amount) while not doing enough to combat plastic waste.They are very annoying but easy to twist off so I dont really care
You can solve this easily by not buying overpriced massproduced factory food.
Wanna fight back? Stop giving them money.
Or just, putting the cap on the side and never have it be an annoyance whether you drink from the bottle, pour it in a glass, or whatever really. People complaining about that have issues.
yeh I just buy the raw milk
I’m honestly so confused as to why people care. I honestly barely notice the difference
Depends on what you drink. On a smoothie the thicker liquid will cling onto the lid while you drink until just at the moment then drip onto your clothes.
Everyone hates that.
I have kids and I don’t hate not losing caps.
Thanks for broadening my perspective.
I know they’re supposed to be
goodless damaging for the environment but… God I hate those caps.I recycle everything so personally don’t have much need for the tether, but it’s probably better overall and I imagine most people will just get used to it, honestly.
It is a bit annoying having to make sure my nose doesn’t get bonked when I drink, though.
just use it as intended instead of trying to rip it off
It’s annoying then though since you to take care not to pour over it or get it in your mouth. And lost caps weren’t even a problem before.
You are an adult (probably), you’ll manage. 🫰
Duh? It’s still stupid that a gremium of politicians waste resources to regulate non-issues. I certainly don’t want to live in the US but the EU is over-regulated.
That might be true I’m not well versed in EU law or any law for that matter, can you give some examples where you think that is the case?
When I think of EU laws that caught my attention it often was something that felt positive to me:
EU wide roaming Travelers rights Anti trust/privacy protection Usb-c charging
