Those who live or are visiting the EU have been forced to change their habit when drinking from a plastic bottle as since 1st July 2024 all plastic bottles must have their caps tethered. This follows a decision from the EU taken in 2018 to reduce spare plastic items that have been invading our cities, beaches, and being eaten/swallowed by animals and fishes.
As a matter of fact, the pollution of plastic – including microplastic – has become a serious problem for the environment as well as our health integrity. After some analyses of human blood, it turned out that a worrying quantity of microplastic was found in it and this could not only threaten our life, but even our ability to reproduce. Furthermore, many fishes – which we usually eat – are likely to have previously eaten and digested several forms of plastic, which became intrinsically part of their body and their flesh.
Reduction of plastic is not only recommended, but highly suggested from the UN and the EU decided to take action, among all, with the plastic bottles’ caps.
In the same time, many UK consumers complained that also here in the UK newly bought bottles show these tethered caps, despite the UK is no longer part of the EU. What these people don’t take into account is the economy of scale. Drinks producers already complain about the increased cost of these new kind of bottles and certainly they couldn’t bear an additional increase of production costs to set up separate lines for the UK market, thus this is reason why.
In addition to this measure, a few months ago Ireland decided to introduce the “Deposit Return Scheme” by adding EUR 0.15 to every drink in plastic bottle up to 500 ml and EUR 0.25 for bottles up to 3 litres to stimulate consumers returning empty bottles to fight pollution. In principle, this sounds good. In practice, especially at airports but not limited there, it is highly unlikely that people are able to return empty bottles, making this measure perceived as an additional tax. By the way, it applies also to aluminium cans.
As many say, the green transition is absolutely necessary, but it doesn’t come for free.
Stefano Mainero
EPN Consulting and EPN Consulting Research and Innovation Founder & CEO
Article written by human beings without any use of AI. EPN Consulting Ltd. copyright 2024