To wonder who’s Ridiculous idea that stupid piece of Plastic was…

[RingsOfSaturnn]

Yes you know the one I’m talking about. I don’t even have to mention the bane of my existence! Whenever you see anybody drinking from one of these, it’s awkward and unintuitive. What a ludicrous and quite frankly futile exercise in trying to save the planet.

I am of course talking about the piece of plastic on bottle lids for soft drinks, meaning you cannot easily drink out the bottle anymore without it snapping back in your face or grating over your skin. It’s like we are being guilted and shamed for this, plastic water bottles don’t contain it, just soft drink ones.

I personally can’t stand them! And don’t know anybody who sits and says they are a good idea…

On the one hand I like the idea they are attempting to reduce pollution. Although cynical me wonders if they are saving money with their factory equipment hence the change disguised as environmental friendly etc.

If they were really interested in reducing pollution they would try harder not to use plastic at all and return to glass bottles or find another environmental friend way to bottle their drinks that did not involve plastic. This article is 2 years old but shows the problem.. the tops barely address the problem. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for third year in a row | Plastics | The Guardian

Also another example of disregarding all those people across the world who have various disabilities which means it is now much harder for them to open a bottle of pop!

Soft drinks have zero nutritional value, are full of chemicals, make people fat and ill and are a contributor to plastic waste and pollution. I sort of feel the recyclability of the bottle lid seems like a pathetic attempt at greenwashing a pretty pointless product.

@Truemilk you’re fortunate you have the strength to yank the top off. I find it more difficult to get the lis off and even harder to get it back on again and if I accidentally knock the bottle over it leaks.
Big corporations paying lip service to conservation.

Exactly. And you can't pour into a glass without the lid being on the way spilling the drink around.

@NotMeNoNo agree and another example of massive companies putting the onus on the little people!

The issue with using glass instead of plastic is that the glass production process emits a massive amount of CO2 and glass is heavier than plastic so transport carbon emissions are also huge compared to plastic. Re-use models are great and something that all companies will be looking at right now but they are incredibly complicated and expensive to run and there is obviously a limit to how many times a glass bottle can be re- used so there are a huge amount of complications as CO2 emissions need to be reduced significantly due to climate change. The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle phrase is important here. We need to look at reducing use of packaging as our first point of call- buying bulk packaging is better as the ratio of packaging to product is better for the environment. Drinking tap water is even better as no packaging involved.
As an aside, there is no production benefit to these lids so they aren't saving money (I don't work for Coca Cola by the way)

@RingsOfSaturnn But that doesn't negate the fact that they've carried out R&D before going into production.

I agree they're probably v annoying but quite frankly if it puts people off buying so many single use plastic bottles then great!

The lid is on the way and prevents you from pouring it without spilling it!

I have more of an objection to how narrow they've made the lids now, as it's impossible to open with slightly reduced grip strength. I was bought one by somebody and I had to get the IT guy to open it for me - he faithfully promised to not tell anybody that I'm a weak and weedy old woman now on pain of death 😂

That's interesting thanks - I did not know that about glass - but I can see practical issues also with glass. But as you they should be doing something to reduce their pollution and not putting the onus on the general public. They should be using some of their profits to sort this!

In addition, I get fed up of companies who neglect those with disabilities - my MIL likes the occasional glass of pop but unfortunately has Parkinson disease so has no hope in open these bottles now.. it was difficult enough before.

Same. It gets in the way of drinking.

I just twist it until it comes off. I agree it's stupid and annoying.

It is such a tricky issue, hopefully they are looking at easier to open options and the tops will evolve to allow easier opening and closing.

@MrHopsPortal

ours has been taking the lids for a while now as long. As they're screwed to the bottle (making them not 'a small thing'. I was told loose lids jam in the machinery.

we used to separate out the type of lids/colour and they'd raise money for a charity, but now we all reattach them to the bottles (place no longer recycles them for charity). It still feels weird putting them (attached!!) but SO much easier.

@RingsOfSaturnn Are they on the 500ml bottles too? It says 1.5l bottles and I wouldn't be swigging out of those.

i suppose it's like many other things, fecking frustrating, but we get used to it in time.

Agree and here's hoping.

We are farmers.

In the past we have bought municipal compost made from green waste that you put out in your wheelie bins. We stopped buying it as it was full of bits of plastic that were the caps and safety seals of drinks bottles. The processing line could pick out the bottles themselves but not small bits of plastic like the lids.
Of course, no plastic should have been in the garden waste bins in the first place!

I just rip it off and refuse to recycle it.

I wonder if it'll actually lead to more waste of the drink. I had a bottle of tonic water go flat because it hadn't lined up properly and I hadn't realised. I'm more careful now, or remove it if I just can't get it to line up while it's attached.

Apparently it's quite expensive to manufacture those lids. I have no idea how their recycling works. When I was younger I used to unscrew and squash everythinf as I was advised. I still leave lids off so I can squeeze everything in the recycling bin.

This is the whole point of the tethered cap OP is complaining about. It keeps the caps tethered to the bottle which makes sure it doesn't fall through the gaps when separating recycling. The idea is to reduce the amount of virgin plastic we use by creating a closed loop recycling system. It will increase the amount of food grade plastic recycled material available for manufacture, meaning less virgin plastic, so less oil.

OP -
If you can't bear the minor inconvenience of a tethered cap then just switch to cans. I sympathise with those who have concerns due to arthritis, etc., but it's being done for a good reason, even if you personally don't like it.

They are awful, I'm absolutely certain there is a better way of doing it so that it doesn't scratch your face, make it hard to shut so it wastes the drink or make it impossible for people with disabilities to open. It's a question of R&D as someone said but they clearly haven't done theirs properly. I generally do not buy the bottles now and have massively cut down on buying it at all as it's so over priced in the cans.

For the person that said it's bad for you anyway so the environmental issues are not even the point - I imagine you are tremendous fun at parties....

@LucyLoopyLu as pp has said it might appear it's being done for a good reasons... but it feels more like an example of greenwashing to be honest. You've only got to read the majority of comments on here about people just ripping the lips off - so I question whether this will make any difference at all.

Agree, we ended up with a big puddle of coke under our fridge and washing machine after the bottle leaked. Lid seemed to be screwed on properly, but obviously not...

And what good reasons might that be???

Whether you think it's greenwashing or not, it hasn't been implemented as part of a PR stunt. It has a tangible benefit in terms of increasing recycling rates of food grade plastic. It's also been implemented by coca cola ahead of the EU directive on tethered caps, which are to become mandatory in the EU in summer 2024 for drinks bottles 3l and under. It's also been part of proposed UK legislation but as far as I know it's currently TBC - not likely to be summer 2024.

However what is relevant to all producers of plastic bottles in the UK is the current plastics tax. All producers or importers of plastic packaging in the UK now have to pay tax of £X per tonne of plastic used that does not include at least 30% recycled material. But in order to make this possible (and aim to exceed the 30%) we need to drastically increase the amount of food grade recycled plastic available to purchase and make into new bottles. Hence the need for a closed loop recycling system, of which tethered caps are a part of the solution.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-from-april-2022/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-2021