Hypocritical law?

Expert: Tied bottle caps are useless

The amount of discarded lids that end up in the sea or in rivers and lakes is likely to be extremely small.

(Bild: [e-mail] stock.adobe)

To reduce litter in the countryside, loose caps have been banned on certain drinks since July 3. Now a packaging expert is criticizing: the permanently attached bottle caps are not mandatory and not logical.

"Does this really do anything for the planet or even for Europe? And my clear answer is: no," Markus Prem from Kempten University of Applied Sciences told the German Press Agency. This is just pure actionism to assuage a guilty conscience.

However, the German expert assumes that a habituation effect will soon set in with the so-called tethered caps. He believes that the amount of discarded lids that end up in the sea or in rivers and lakes is extremely low. "The industry has been forced to invest billions in new machines, among other things, for an effect that is virtually impossible to measure." The Federal Association of German Beverage Wholesalers told the dpa on request that plants would have had to be converted or rebuilt. "We are assuming amounts in the millions."

The industry has thus been forced to invest billions in new machines, among other things, for an effect that is virtually impossible to measure.

Verpackungsexperte Markus Prem

The Verband Deutscher Mineralbrunnen (VDM) emphasized that the effort and costs would vary greatly. For some companies, the changeover in bottling would be equivalent to a new product launch. Others would have considerable expenses if changes in inspection technology or capping technology were necessary. According to the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE), the "considerable" costs per filling line amount to around 181,000 euros. "Added to this is the additional cost of lids or closures at around 0.2 cents per unit," BVE Deputy Managing Director Peter Feller told dpa.

(Bild: dtatiana - stock.adobe.com)

Recycling plastics is much more important
According to Prem, Europe and America account for a small proportion of the plastics that are washed into the sea. The overwhelming majority comes from Asia. "We would have to start somewhere else if we really wanted to make a difference." It is much more important to recycle plastics and create a cycle. "In many areas, plastics are composite materials that are very difficult or impossible to recycle."

The VDM also emphasized that a return rate of around 99% has already been achieved for glass and PET bottles. "The problem of littering therefore did not exist in Germany even before the EU directive came into force." "Littering" refers to littering.

This is unlikely to cause a huge stir
Prem does not believe that consumers will continue to get upset about the tethered caps for long. People have also become accustomed to the abolition of "plastic bags or plastic straws".

Basically, the screw cap, which was patented 135 years ago this Saturday (August 10) by Brit Dan Rylands, is a success story, praised the packaging expert. There are, of course, other closure systems such as crown caps or tear-off tabs. "But there is no simpler way to close something than with a screw cap," said Prem.