Ever tossed a plastic bottle without thinking twice about the tiny cap that doesn’t make it to recycling? Those small caps add up—contributing significantly to Europe’s 26 million tonnes of annual plastic waste, much of which ends up polluting our oceans. Discover how to combat this by the EU !
Author｜Riza Qin
Editor｜Sophia Wu—As you toss a used plastic bottle into the garbage bin, have you ever overlooked the small bottle cap, separated from the bottle and ultimately failing to be recycled along it? In fact, these small components add up to a lot - plastic bottle caps and lids contribute significantly to Europe’s nearly 26 million tonnes of plastic waste generated yearly. Much of this waste becomes marine litter, with plastics making up approximately 80% of the debris in our oceans.
To address this pervasive issue of plastic pollution, a significant regulatory change occurred across the European Union a few months ago: as of July 3, 2024, single-use plastic bottles must now have their caps or lids attached. Now, as you step into a supermarket in an EU country, instead of the caps we are used to that screw fully off, what you will be seeing are caps including extra strips of plastic connecting it to the bottle.
Coca-Cola has been one of the first to embrace the change as they have rolled the design out across Europe in the last year or so. “This small change has the potential to have a big impact, ensuring that consumers recycle our bottles, and no cap gets left behind,” Coca-Cola Ireland manager Agnese Filippi said ahead of the introduction.
However, not all major drink companies and consumers are so open to this change - as with any new policy, the introduction of attached caps has faced complaints, which have been voiced across various social media. Specifically, users complain that the attached caps hit them in the face as they drink and make drinks more difficult to pour.
EU member states are free to set their own design requirements as long as “the caps and lids remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended use stage.” So the design we’re currently seeing on drinks like Coke is not the only one possible. Hopefully, other drink companies will innovate the design to address consumers’ concerns while still mitigating the environmental impact of plastic waste.
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References:
- https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/07/02/why-are-bottle-caps-attached-to-the-bottle-inside-the-eu-directive-causing-drink-spills-ev
- https://www.environmentenergyleader.com/stories/how-the-eus-bottle-cap-requirement-is-shaping-plastic-waste-management,48395
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