The cap attached to plastic bottles becomes mandatory, but does not convince the associations

All drinks sold in the EU with a plastic cap must, from 3 July, be equipped with a system to keep the cap attached to the container.

It is definitely mandatory from this Wednesday, July 3: disposable bottles and cartons must now have an attached cap. This is the application of a European directive from 2019. The measure should allow for better recycling of caps and prevent them from ending up in nature. A small change in our daily lives that we have already noticed because many bottles are already equipped with these new generation caps.

“I just drank, I got into the boat with the cork down my nose, we can’t close the bottle, it’s horrible”protests a woman questioned about these corks which “clip” and come to tickle our faces with each sip. “If you close it badly it crushes and then you can’t close it anymore”another complains.

But we have to get used to it: plastic bottles and cartons of less than three liters must now have a cap attached to prevent them from ending up in the environment. A small change for the consumer, but a big headache for manufacturers.

“The cork seems simple, but in reality, it is much more complicated than it seems.”

Sarah Nerbonne, Marketing Director at Tetrapak

to franceinfo

The global brick giant has invested 100 million euros in its cork factory in Chateaubriant, in Loire-Atlantique. “We have an extremely varied offer of formats, sizes, shapes, packaging, so there are more than a thousand possible combinations, explains Sarah Nerbonne, from Tetrapak. This meant costs to develop new caps, modifications with new molds for example. This small change therefore has impacts on industrial equipment.”

A revolution for the company that has already produced 10 billion of these caps in Europe. But all these efforts do not solve the pollution problem, regrets Marine Bonavita of Zéro Waste France.

“It’s a drop in the ocean. Attaching the button to the bottle doesn’t solve the major problem which is the absolutely insane number of plastic bottles we use.”

Marine Bonavita, Zero Waste France

to franceinfo

“We use 140 bottles per year per person, which represents more than 15 billion plastic bottles. We need to put pressure on manufacturers, this is what will allow us to fight against plastic pollution,” ton Marine Bonavita.

Zéro Waste France instead calls for the application of the law against waste, which plans to halve the number of disposable bottles sold in France by 2030. However, the figure is increasing: +4% between 2021 and 2022.