A European government regulation requiring Coca-Cola and other soft drink makers to attach the bottle caps to the plastic beverage containers in order to reduce waste is getting on customers’ nerves.
Several Coke drinkers posted videos on social media showing them struggling to negotiate the cap as it remained affixed to the plastic bottle where it rubs up against their noses, cheeks and lips as they try to sip on their favorite carbonated treat.
“You literally have a fight with your bottle now every time you take a drink,” Benny James, a podcast host and social media influencer from south London, told The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s just irritating.”
James said that he now prefers to buy his soft drinks in cans.
In 2021, the European Union introduced new directives on single-use plastics which required beverage makers to attach the caps to the bottle in order to encourage drinkers to recycle both the bottle and the cap when they’re finished.
Coca-Cola and other soft drink companies including PepsiCo, Danone and Nestlé lobbied against the directive, saying that it would increase the amount of plastic that they would use a year and cost them billions of dollars more to adapt their bottling lines.
But EU regulators weren’t swayed and the companies were forced to comply.
Soft drink consumers are not happy with the final product, with some ripping off the cap in disgust and posting video of their rebellion on social media.
The Post has sought comment from Coca-Cola.
A company spokesperson told the Journal that consumers responded positively to the new design when it was introduced in focus groups.
Coca-Cola said that the attached bottle caps have not impacted sales of its products in Europe.
“We have been pleased by the response from many consumers who appreciate the steps we are taking to improve circularity in our packaging and prevent litter,” Coca-Cola said.
“We recognize that it takes getting used to this change.”
Adalbert Jahnz, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said that the EU did not “impose a specific design” on Coca-Cola.
Lawmakers in the United States have so far declined to emulate their European counterparts in requiring beverage companies to tether the caps to the bottles.
