this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024

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Mildly Infuriating

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Tethered plastic caps (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/mildlyinfuriating

212 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] squid_slime 111 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (33 children)

To all companies

just stop using plastic

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago

To governments:

Plastic tax.

[–] cosmicrookie 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

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

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[–] garbagebagel 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

My city is awesome and recently decided to just stop recycling glass. You know, because we love plastic and why would we want to reward companies who use glass, the much easier thing to reuse and recycle.

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[–] MeanEYE 15 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Why would they? There's no financial reason for them to do so. Whatever they do, you are to blame for consuming. It's not them wrapping everything in plastic it's you who didn't recycle. Screw the fact there is no recycling containers around where you live.

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[–] Maggoty 88 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Plastic needs to die. There's no point in designing a cap that goes into recycling reliably when we know recycling plastic just gets dumped in third world countries.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (6 children)

PET bottles are actually the most recycled or their plastic upcycled. But yeah, needs to die.

[–] FlyingSquid 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Maybe, but PET still contributes to the microplastics problem and I wouldn't be surprised if the recycling process adds more PET microplastics to the atmosphere so they can be carried around the planet.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I don't understand why soft drinks are even sold in plastic bottles anymore. Cans work perfectly fine. Sure you might want to re-seal the lid or something but if that's the case just buy a reusable drink container.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

plastic is cheap i guess?

[–] Maggoty 10 points 8 months ago

Ding ding ding. Yet again we're paying for their externalized costs.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

Aluminum cans are great but still use a plastic lining, so I'm not sure overall whether it comes out better. You still get microplastics.

[–] Enk1 82 points 8 months ago (21 children)

Easy solution: only buy drinks in aluminum cans or glass bottles. World is already drowning in microplastic pollution.

[–] olafurp 14 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Microplastic is mostly tires and fishing nets so tax those first I think.

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[–] Crampon 74 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I'm so fucking tired.

It's estimated the fishing industry is losing around 400 metric tonnes of fishing gear into Norwegian waters every year.

Now we are punished for this by attaching the stupid caps to the bottles. Why are we not able to fix problems in this society hellbent for self destruction?

Why are every problem pushed down on the working class just wanting to enjoy a soda in this capitalistic hellscape.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Attaching the caps to the bottles fixes a problem.

The lost fishing gear is another problem.

Fixing one will not fix the other. Fixing one helps. Fixing both helps more.

[–] Crampon 38 points 8 months ago (6 children)

So. In Norway we have this great system for returning used bottles for cash. We get 0.2$ for a 0.5 liter bottle. People are returning the bottle with the cap on. Seeing bottle caps laying around isn't a thing.

Instead of attaching the cap to the bottle. Make a return system for the bottles. People are not systematically seperating the bottle and the cap as the cap keeps the sugary residue left inside the bottle in place instead of in the bag you carry them with to the store for returning them for that sweet cash.

Attaching the cap is a solution looking for a problem.

Having travelled a lot around in Europe I have never seen bottle caps laying the street alone. People throw them together or not at all.

This is bureaucracy time spent on caps instead of actual problems. So they could focus on actual issues instead of this shit. It's a testament to how they blame every issue on random people instead of the industries inventing new ways to fuck up any ecosystem.

[–] Holyhandgrenade 26 points 8 months ago

This is classic greenwashing. It's the smallest possible gesture a soda company can make to show that they "care about the environment" while not making any actual change to be more eco-friendly.
Same thing with those awful paper straws. Are you really asking me to believe that a massive burger chain can neutralize their footprint by giving you a straw that turns soggy in minutes? The straws were never the real problem, but it's the smallest possible step they can take to seem eco-friendly.

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[–] Cosmicomical 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Why do i have he impression that problems only get solved if the solution doesn't damage a specific class of people?

[–] Maggoty 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You know what would fix that problem? Not using plastic. It doesn't actually get recycled no matter what doodad they attach to it.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Its the same with the paper straws while disposable electronic cigarettes are still allowed, which not only contain plastics, but also electronics and a rechargeable lithium cell.

All the while a reusable vape works just as well, while paper straws just suck and they even contain plastic as well.

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[–] hdnsmbt 46 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I'm convinced those do very little for the environment. There was some really smart executive at the plastic bottle company who made this up so they can charge more from beverage companies.

[–] Malidak 9 points 8 months ago

Even better. All the bottling and filling machine manufacturers could sell expensive upgrade packages for the beverage companies to even be able to work with the new caps. In our case we even had to completely retire two older machines because there are incompatible and buy new ones. Great for the environment for sure.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It does shit for the environment, no one throws caps away separately while recycling the bottle. Most coloured plastics aren't recycled anyways. Like 80% of all microplastic is from car tires.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It was a very common plastic to be found on beaches. So they wanted to tether it to prevent garbage shit in the ocean.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The idea is solid, the execution is just awful.

If it had just a bit more slack, at least you will be able to close the bottle without having to jerk it. Add even a little more, and you would be able to drink from the bottle without it poking out your eye.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago (11 children)

I have never seen one of these. Can you not just like, rip it off?

[–] cynar 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can, but there's enough plastic to make it non-trivial, particularly if you don't want to risk destroying the cap.

They definitely mess with your muscle memory, both when opening it, and drinking from it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

I tried to take them off a few times until I realized it was on purpose and not a manufacturing defect.

The problem isn't the force it takes to rip it off: that's easy enough to do. The problem is that the now-free cap has sharp edges that really hurt, and the plastic bottle now has an annoying dangling plastic tail.

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[–] TheProtagonist 19 points 8 months ago

I had no idea that this is a global phenomenon.

[–] Ultraviolet 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh, that's intentional? I just assumed it was a manufacturing defect where the perforation doesn't quite detach the cap from the ring.

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[–] MilitantAtheist 10 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Just twist it the fuck off

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

I just deafen the complaints of tm friends and break the tether every time.

PS: as a lemmy geeky user, every time means like once or twice.

[–] TrickDacy 9 points 8 months ago

I wouldn't even call this mildly ... Anything

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In what way are they better for the environment? I'm confused

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Bottle caps stay tethered to the bottles when bottles are taken in for recycling. They don’t end up on the ground.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

Which is weird, since I have never seen anyone dispose of a screw-on lid improperly. It‘s always just the caps to glass bottles you see lying around.

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