All plastic caps must be attached to bottles throughout the EU as part of the Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive, starting on 3 July 2024.
The new tethering system will apply to all beverage containers, including bottles, cartons and pouches, up to three litres in size, the RTÉ reported citing the Department of the Environment Climate and Communications.
Products with plastic lids 'may be placed on the market only if the lids and caps remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended end use stage,' according to the directive.
Bottle caps comprise around 15% of packaging litter, according to Ireland's National Litter Pollution Monitoring System, the report added.
Caps detached from bottles end up as non-recycled residual waste as they tend to be too small and light for recycling sorting equipment to handle.
Packaging Upgrades
Many beverage manufacturers in Ireland have already complied with the requirement and redesigned their bottle caps to include an additional plastic strip that keeps it attached to the ring.
Britvic-owned Ballygowan Water has switched to tethered caps for all products and it hopes that this initiative along with the Deposit Return Scheme will help reduce littering and increase packaging recycling rates.
Elsewhere, Agnese Filippi, country manager with Coca-Cola Ireland, told RTÉ that the move to attached caps across our entire portfolio will ensure that consumers recycle the bottles and "no cap gets left behind."
The EU’s Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive seeks to reduce environmental plastic waste and has already seen the implementation of measures to eliminate single-use plastic items such as coffee stirrers, cotton buds and plates.
In January 2023, Finnish dairy firm Valio announced plans to switch to tethered caps for its drinkable products as part of its efforts to comply with the requirements of the directive.
