Who brought the regulation for plastic bottle caps?
August 17, 2025
The plastic bottle caps are worthy of the European history hall of shame
19 comments
In my opinion people are overreacting. My life didn’t really change for worse when they introduced those caps.
Also, I feel that those caps are just an excuse to criticize EU. Those who complain would find something else for nitpick if it wasn’t for bottle caps.
I’m in favor. They help both the disabled and those with butterfingers like me, so I never have to dive into the spider kingdom again.
Doesn’t bother me at all, not sure why people are getting so upset.
You know you can rip it off if you are that bothered by it right?
i fucking love that feature. when i went to the UK i felt like an astronaut who returned to earth.
but instead of letting a pen fall expecting it to float i dropped my cap here and there.
Why?
It takes no time to adjust and there are clear environmental benefits.
If you twist the cap a bit, it breaks one of the ties, leaving it still attached but much easier to deal with.
I really don’t understand all this complaining about these stupid bottle caps. Can none of you drink properly? I have zero issues with them.
Oh no, an extremely minor inconvenience for what appears to be a loud minority that, at the very least, helps people not litter the caps all over the damn place.
(Personally, I like it. I rarely buy plastic bottles, but when I do it’s always been an inconvenience not to drop the cap when I drink. Now it stays in place, yay.)
I as a German hate these, because the new shape and the pointy edges annoy me. I get the point tho and really rarely didn’t recycle bottle and cap separately. (Mostly because of the Pfandsystem, the only exceptions are foreign bottles going into my recycling bin, there I separated caps from bottles because of the different plastic).
Is it hall of shame worthy? Definitely not!
Compared to the totalitarianism and death that china, the US and Russia are bringing to the world I think out hall of shame is fairly neat.
They’re trying to distract us from the Chat Control fiasco Denmark is putting on the EU!
Nobody gives a fuck about the bottle caps.
I like that the cap stays with the bottle. I can pick up most plastic bottles and get a pfand for it, without the bottle spilling. They are a little harder to close. I have to kinda force the cap on instead of gently aligning it.
I really couldn’t care less about the bottle caps. It’s not life changing technology. They are a bit superfluous on milk containers, but if people get a fucking cup instead of disgustingly drinking out of the milk container, more power to the caps.
Best part was the time when my recycling center wanted the caps off still while they came attached by default. That made no sense at all to me. Since they introduced the yellow bag nationwide I don’t care at all. And if it’s one where it annoys me I rip it off. I close them all before sending them through the Pfand machine anyway.
To actually answer the question, “[Directive (EU) 2019/904](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0904) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, whose Article 6(1) provides: “Member States shall ensure that single-use plastic products listed in Part C of the Annex [mainly, “Beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres”] that have caps and lids made of plastic may be placed on the market only if the caps and lids remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended use stage.”
People are so defensive about those caps – dunno, they are annoying.
My only issue is that sometimes the bottle won’t close properly because of the cap. Other than that it’s fine by me.
If the intent of the regulation was to decrease the number of plastic bottle caps that end up in nature, it has definitely been quite a huge failure. There was a news report just a few weeks ago that the number of plastic bottle caps found on Swedish beaches has tripled during last year, with the Swedish West Coast (Skagerrak Sea, Kattegat Sea and the Sound) being the hardest hit. This is according to numbers from the non-profit environmental organization Håll Sverige Rent (Keep Sweden Tidy).
19 comments
In my opinion people are overreacting. My life didn’t really change for worse when they introduced those caps.
Also, I feel that those caps are just an excuse to criticize EU. Those who complain would find something else for nitpick if it wasn’t for bottle caps.
I’m in favor. They help both the disabled and those with butterfingers like me, so I never have to dive into the spider kingdom again.
Doesn’t bother me at all, not sure why people are getting so upset.
You know you can rip it off if you are that bothered by it right?
i fucking love that feature. when i went to the UK i felt like an astronaut who returned to earth.
but instead of letting a pen fall expecting it to float i dropped my cap here and there.
Why?
It takes no time to adjust and there are clear environmental benefits.
If you twist the cap a bit, it breaks one of the ties, leaving it still attached but much easier to deal with.
I really don’t understand all this complaining about these stupid bottle caps. Can none of you drink properly? I have zero issues with them.
Oh no, an extremely minor inconvenience for what appears to be a loud minority that, at the very least, helps people not litter the caps all over the damn place.
(Personally, I like it. I rarely buy plastic bottles, but when I do it’s always been an inconvenience not to drop the cap when I drink. Now it stays in place, yay.)
I as a German hate these, because the new shape and the pointy edges annoy me. I get the point tho and really rarely didn’t recycle bottle and cap separately. (Mostly because of the Pfandsystem, the only exceptions are foreign bottles going into my recycling bin, there I separated caps from bottles because of the different plastic).
Is it hall of shame worthy? Definitely not!
Compared to the totalitarianism and death that china, the US and Russia are bringing to the world I think out hall of shame is fairly neat.
They’re trying to distract us from the Chat Control fiasco Denmark is putting on the EU!
Nobody gives a fuck about the bottle caps.
I like that the cap stays with the bottle. I can pick up most plastic bottles and get a pfand for it, without the bottle spilling. They are a little harder to close. I have to kinda force the cap on instead of gently aligning it.
I really couldn’t care less about the bottle caps. It’s not life changing technology. They are a bit superfluous on milk containers, but if people get a fucking cup instead of disgustingly drinking out of the milk container, more power to the caps.
Best part was the time when my recycling center wanted the caps off still while they came attached by default. That made no sense at all to me. Since they introduced the yellow bag nationwide I don’t care at all. And if it’s one where it annoys me I rip it off. I close them all before sending them through the Pfand machine anyway.
To actually answer the question, “[Directive (EU) 2019/904](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0904) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, whose Article 6(1) provides: “Member States shall ensure that single-use plastic products listed in Part C of the Annex [mainly, “Beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres”] that have caps and lids made of plastic may be placed on the market only if the caps and lids remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended use stage.”
In Germany, ([according to](https://www.bundesumweltministerium.de/faq/was-ist-mit-den-deckeln-und-verschluessen-von-einweggetraenkebehaeltern) to the BMUKN) this has been implemented by the “Verordnung über die Beschaffenheit und Kennzeichnung von Einwegkunststoffprodukten” (Einwegkunststoffkennzeichnungsverordnung – [EWKKennzV](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ewkkennzv/BJNR202400021.html)), in particular its § 3 (1). (Yes, I’m just playing with the German cliche that the words are super long here…)
People are so defensive about those caps – dunno, they are annoying.
My only issue is that sometimes the bottle won’t close properly because of the cap. Other than that it’s fine by me.
If the intent of the regulation was to decrease the number of plastic bottle caps that end up in nature, it has definitely been quite a huge failure. There was a news report just a few weeks ago that the number of plastic bottle caps found on Swedish beaches has tripled during last year, with the Swedish West Coast (Skagerrak Sea, Kattegat Sea and the Sound) being the hardest hit. This is according to numbers from the non-profit environmental organization Håll Sverige Rent (Keep Sweden Tidy).