I think the cap thing is more about littering because in those countries people litter only the cap for some reason?
Corporations are saving the planet!
Submitted 11 hours ago by crt0o@discuss.tchncs.de to [deleted]
https://discuss.tchncs.de/pictrs/image/a0a97ad4-c91d-48a6-b6ed-542ba928b876.png
Comments
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
When cleaning up beaches and the like, those caps are the litter they found the most.
People lost them or didn’t bother to pick them up because they are so small. Unlike with the bottles themselves.
Since they switched to the new caps, the amount of caps found has decreased significantly.
So yes, they work. It is all based on data.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Ofc it is, but stupid fucks have to complain about mundane shit
philthi@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Also, the caps separated from the bottle fall through dinky cracks easier, like street drain covers) and get lost easier (or drop out of the bottom of the bin easier, etc.), being attached to the large bottle makes that more difficult to occur.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Not sure if this applied universally, but I remember for years and years the common knowledge was that plastic caps are unrecyclable for some reason, and there used to be separate bins to toss them at recycling centers. That’s no longer the case, so keeping the cap connected to the bottle is one way to demonstrate that they should be recycled together.
(By “recycled” I mean most likely shipped to Southeast Asia to then most likely just find their way into the ocean)
tormeh@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
I think the kind of plastic used in bottles is one of very few that actually are profitable to recycle. PET, I think. This is actually something recycling companies want. Most other plastic is just burned or shipped somewhere.
Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
IIRC the reason most caps used to be unrecyclable (many still are) is that they had a liner in them made of a different material. Because such caps were composite materials (using different types of plastic for the liner and the cap), they would make an impure product if recycled. The same problem applies if the cap and bottle are different types of plastic, which used to be more common.
Revan343@lemmy.ca 5 hours ago
(By “recycled” I mean most likely shipped to Southeast Asia to then most likely just find their way into the ocean)
You would be wrong; PET bottles are mostly actually recycled, because it recycles very well (also, why would places go to the effort of setting up a deposit/return scheme for something they aren’t actually recycling? Just throw it in the blue bag with all the other plastic that doesn’t actually get recycled)
crumbguzzler5000@feddit.org 10 hours ago
This is why I stopped recycling and put everything in the trash.
For one I was so sad when I found out what a scam it is that such a small amount of stuff is actually recycled and especially plastic never was actually planned to be recycled.
Two, I’d rather most of the plastic end up in our own landfill than to be shipped overseas into someone else’s or just end up in the ocean. We deserve to poison our own land thanks to our politicians not holding corporations to account.
Kualdir@piefed.social 6 hours ago
I remember they used to collect bottle caps to donate to charities that used it to make stuff for dogs and stuff
edwardbear@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Conspiracy theory of mine - I’m European, so not sure if valid for the other side of the pond, but there was a massive campaign here to recycle the bottle caps by donating them for the creation of incubators for premature births. The local authorities placed massive donation boxes shaped like a heart and they were getting filled constantly. Then they started attaching the bottle caps to the bottle and somewhere deep inside I strongly believe that out there, there is an absolute evil cunt who only feels something when a baby dies, so he wants fewer donated caps, because deep inside he knows people don’t care enough to snap the cap off.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 3 hours ago
I’ve seen one if these, so that is what they are for!
pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 hours ago
Attached cap prevents it from becoming a macroplastic
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 9 hours ago
I end up dribbling because the lid gets in my way, but it’s fine because I’m helping to offset the pollution caused by a billionaire’s private jet.
hobovision@lemm.ee 5 hours ago
If you keep pushing it further open it has a detent that will hold it open far enough that even my big nose won’t touch it… It’s an amazing design, better than a screw cap in every way. Well, at least the properly designed ones.
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t lend itself to comments that get upvotes, and I’m a slag for it.
Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 hours ago
That last sentence is pulling a whole lot of weight there, there are so many bad implementations out there it’s just stupid.
Also why the hell does this extend to all bottles, what is the point of a milk carton having this mandatory. (Pure coincidence, but most milk packaging I’ve come across after the change falls in the ‘bad implementation’ category)
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
Sometimes they’re harder to close
iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com 3 hours ago
I remember when cans used to have tabs that tore off. These were changed to the current model, where the tab stays attached after the can is opened.
People complained that they couldn’t drink properly with the new tab design. I guess they either figured it out, died, started using a glass, or gave up drinks in cans completely, since I haven’t heard this complaint in decades.
Anyway, I hope you figure it out, comrade! Good luck!
Zatore@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
I like the convenience of not losing the cap
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
Easier to walk around with an open bottle too since you don’t have to hold the cap or put it into your pocket
socsa@piefed.social 2 hours ago
Cynicism, on the other hand - that's always good.
Thcdenton@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
I rip those off out of spite
theUwUhugger@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Hahehahahehhahahahahhrha I don’t know what a thing is for
crt0o@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
I know it’s supposed to help with recycling, the issue is that it fails to address the core of the problem. Instead of actually doing something about plastic waste, they change the bottle design a little, someone probably makes a shitload of money off that, and everyone is happy, but in reality nothing of substance has actually been done. They offer us these pathetic compromises and we are stupid enough to be satisfied with them.
theUwUhugger@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
No it does very much so solve the problem it was meant to solve: to stop caps from becoming litter!
You must have a very funny life if you find things funny you don’t understand
entwine413@lemm.ee 10 hours ago
It’s supposed to help with littering, not recycling. And I’ve never once seen a water bottle company advertise an attached lid as some sort of ground breaking benefit for the environment.
Korne127@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
That’s not about companies doing something, it’s just a new law
jbk@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
If you don’t like the new caps then the company that made that bottle screwed up.
swizzlestick@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
Exactly - some are perfectly fine. The cheap ones are terrible, crossthread too easily, get up in your face, dribble, or all of the above.
Sports style bottles solved the problem long before standard caps got in the game. They get disposed of together here either way, even if the cap gets yanked off for being stupid.
I don’t understand how they end up separate in disposal in the first place. The whole point is that you can reseal the bottle and move/store it without leaking. If you’re not actively using the bottle, it gets resealed to move or store. When you finish the bottle, you probably have the cap still in hand or very close by.
Tangentially, I’d love to see a Pfand type system here.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 9 hours ago
I just always rip them off.
narr1@lemmy.ml 10 hours ago
I love the smell of an amount of microplastics in my brainmatter that is equal to a plastic teaspoon in the morning. Smells like burnt toast.
altphoto@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
On other news, there are biodegradable plastics. We should probably use those more. Sure we’ll end up with biodegradable plastic in our bodies but basically it would be inert. PVA, PVOH and CMC for example are inert plastic-like chemicals that can coat stuff in foams. CMC for example makes the clear gel that you put on your hair as well as the gel-like behavior you get from various cosmetics. PVA/PVOH is part of non toxic glue. and what’s in those molecules? Just carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, nothing more than what’s already in our bodies.
mariusafa@lemmy.sdf.org 5 hours ago
All EU representants right now 😱😱😱
n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
Thanks for the safe microplastics!!!
moseschrute@lemmy.ml 9 hours ago
it said good, not safe. It will still kill you but in a good way
jaybone@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Killing me softly with this cap.
Pringles@sopuli.xyz 8 hours ago
That’s an EU regulation, not a corporate measure. And it has drastically decreased the amount of littered bottle caps, so a good thing.
Bruncvik@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
An EU regulation that was heavily lobbied for by Coca Cola.
wpb@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
The only thing I can find in this direction is a letter from beverage companies (including coca cola) opposing these measures. But that’s based on a very shallow google search, so take it with a grain of salt. Where can I find info about what coca cola lobbied for or against?
Thorry84@feddit.nl 5 hours ago
Really? I never heard that before. What would they care about how their caps are? I can’t see it having any impact on them at all. A lot of people got pissed about it when Coca Cola was one of the first to change the caps in line with the regulation, so if anything it hurt Coca Cola.
Also even though large corporations are almost always totally evil, it’s not impossible for them to do something good as well. Probably not for the right reasons, but still, one thing doesn’t exclude the other.
ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 2 hours ago
Littered bottle caps was a problem? Anyway, I hope they do cigarette filters next.
anzo@programming.dev 2 hours ago
Those float in the sea, we don’t want that iiuc. Is a different plastic too, way more valuable from a recycling perspective (in Argentina hospitals used to collect caps to melt and make toys for childrens)