I know they’re supposed to be good for the environment. But… Holy smokes they drive me up the wall. They really do!

I had no trouble adapting when aluminum can pull-tabs got replaced by push-tabs, because it was pretty much the same movement, and I could see the immediate advantage of not getting cut by a pull-tab.

But the tethered cap is fighting decades of muscle memory in me: I’m used to taking the cap off with one hand and keeping it there while taking a swig with the other. Now I unscrew the cap with one hand, but I still have to hold the cap so it’s out of the way. It feels like drinking in handcuffs each and every time…

So unlike the pull-tab, the tethered plastic bottle cap is one of those compulsory eco solutions that constantly make you feel ever-so-slightly more miserable all the time, and I hate that because ecology only works when it brings something of value both to people and to the environment.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    893·
    9 months ago

    Plastic needs to die. There’s no point in designing a cap that goes into recycling reliably when we know recycling plastic just gets dumped in third world countries.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      23·
      9 months ago

      PET bottles are actually the most recycled or their plastic upcycled. But yeah, needs to die.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        9 months ago

        Maybe, but PET still contributes to the microplastics problem and I wouldn’t be surprised if the recycling process adds more PET microplastics to the atmosphere so they can be carried around the planet.

      • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
        6·
        9 months ago

        Yeah, PET is great for recycling.

        Here, 87% of all PET bottles are recycled.

        • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          wherew is that? come on dude if youre going to flex on your country’s recyling rate with a specific percentage write the name of the dang country please

          • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            I live in the Nordics which all have a pretty good recycling rate overall.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.caEnglish
      151·
      9 months ago

      I don’t understand why soft drinks are even sold in plastic bottles anymore. Cans work perfectly fine. Sure you might want to re-seal the lid or something but if that’s the case just buy a reusable drink container.

      • Rob Bos@lemmy.caEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        Aluminum cans are great but still use a plastic lining, so I’m not sure overall whether it comes out better. You still get microplastics.