I know they’re supposed to be good for the environment. But… Holy smokes they drive me up the wall. They really do!

I had no trouble adapting when aluminum can pull-tabs got replaced by push-tabs, because it was pretty much the same movement, and I could see the immediate advantage of not getting cut by a pull-tab.

But the tethered cap is fighting decades of muscle memory in me: I’m used to taking the cap off with one hand and keeping it there while taking a swig with the other. Now I unscrew the cap with one hand, but I still have to hold the cap so it’s out of the way. It feels like drinking in handcuffs each and every time…

So unlike the pull-tab, the tethered plastic bottle cap is one of those compulsory eco solutions that constantly make you feel ever-so-slightly more miserable all the time, and I hate that because ecology only works when it brings something of value both to people and to the environment.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    281·
    9 months ago

    EU Directive 2019/904

    Under the Directive, drinks will only be allowed to be sold in plastic containers if the cap remains attached to the container

    • MeanEYE@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      Funnily enough that directive talks about sustainability, reduction of single use plastics and whatnot. And connected bottle cap is there as a stop gap measure to prevent ocean pollution. But manufacturers stuck to that as be all end all solution. The rest of the directive be damned.

      • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        I haven’t looked too much into the research behind this, but personally, I haven’t noticed loose bottle caps as a huge issue. Actually, I notice more whole bottles thrown out, with caps on them, and this is even in a country where you get money for returning bottles! Not to mention plastic fast food cup caps!