EU’s new bottle caps: Convenience or environmental necessity?

New caps attached to bottles are causing frustration among many consumers across Europe, and some are also confused. They are not sure if the entire bottle is meant for recycling, and that is precisely the point. Coca-Cola has made it easier for customers by even adding a small message.

Throughout Europe, discussions continue about the new bottles with permanently attached caps (unless, of course, someone forcibly removes them). For some, the irritation is reaching its peak. Some voices say that this is one of the worst solutions ever implemented by the European Union.

Formally, from 1 July 2024, an EU regulation will force plastic caps to be factory-attached to bottles or cartons. However, manufacturers had to change their production methods and release new bottles much earlier.

Let us immediately remind you why the EU imposed this change. Moving away from loose caps is part of a larger plan to tackle plastic waste on the continent. Caps are among the most frequently found single-use plastic products on beaches.

The proponents of attached caps hope that people will dispose of the entire bottle along with the cap, which will then be recycled instead of being left on beaches, lawns, or other places.

Environmentalists have long warned that plastic caps are among the top five most harmful types of waste found in the ocean. Alongside fishing nets, plastic bags, cutlery, balloons, and cigarette butts, plastic caps not only pollute ocean waters with microplastics but are also mistaken for food by marine mammals, birds, and fish, leading to fatal consequences.

In the summer of 2016, in the first research of its kind, over 10,000 caps were collected and analysed along the Dutch coast of the North Sea. Between 12 and 80 caps were found on each beach kilometre. Over 70% of them were damaged - more or less seriously, indicating that they had been in the sea for a long time.

This motivated the originators of the new solution to make it widespread. However, many Europeans consider it completely misguided.

On social media, they share their frustration. Outraged, they criticise the solution as "super annoying," with one even calling it the "worst thing to happen to humanity," reported the "Daily Mail" recently. In the UK, they also have attached caps. The largest beverage manufacturers are introducing them in non-EU countries, such as the UK, even though they are not legally obliged.

Coca-Cola fans share their dissatisfaction and suggest using brute force to tear off the cap and regain the old experience of drinking fizzy drinks. In videos on TikTok, they parody the design of the new caps that bounce back and hit faces, reported "The Wall Street Journal."

The Journal noted that some consumers are confused.

Some consumers are confused. Changing, uneven and conflicting recycling rules have left some Europeans under the impression that plastic bottle tops cannot be recycled alongside their bottles, and must be thrown away, it reads.

Coca-Cola has responded. In the UK, as early as 2022, they printed a small message on the caps: "I’m attached to recycle together."