
Marine mammals, birds and fish can mistake bottle caps for food, leading to choking and toxicity, which means the humble plastic cap is one of the deadliest forms of litter found on beaches and at sea.
That is why tackling the problem of plastic caps is imperative for the industry. With plastic lids listed as the seventh most tracked item by citizen science-based data project Marine Debris Tracker, caps have become a focus for the European Union’s recent Single-Use Plastic Directive. This legislation, which came into force in July 2024, aims to address the top ten single-use plastic items commonly found on European beaches. Measures include outright bans and packaging design requirements, including tethered caps for beverage packaging.
While this has only recently come into force, the food and beverage (F&B) industry has been working hard in the background to ensure compliance on schedule. These efforts were helped by the European standardisation body (CEN) developing standards for tethered caps in 2019 and the European Commission publishing guidelines for all single-use plastic products in 2021.
The preparation has paid off. At Tetra Pak we have designed eight solutions since the guidelines were published, launching the world’s first tethered caps for carton packages in 2022 in collaboration with leading beverage brands. As a result, 80% of our customers across Europe had already converted their relevant products by March 2024.
Tethered caps don’t just present an opportunity to prevent plastic littering. They offer a further sustainability benefit when made with renewable, plant-based plastic rather than virgin, oil-based material. A fully renewable cap like the TwistCap™ OSO 34 Pro helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the overall carton. Sales data shows a switch to renewable materials is a popular decision in the F&B industry, with Tetra Pak’s plant-based packaging sales increasing year on year.[1] In 2023, we sold 10.4 billion plant-based packages and 12.6 billion plant-based caps, an increase of 18% and 6% respectively compared to the previous year.
To date, we have sold approximately 20 billion tethered caps to more than 170 customers. While it is too early to gauge if the Single-Use Plastics Directive will have the desired effect on plastic cap littering, there is positive precedent for this type of legislative intervention: the UK has seen a 55% drop in plastic bags found on beaches since a 5p charge on bags was introduced. As plastic pollution continues to impact our world’s oceans, decisive legislation and proactive industry adoption will play a critical role in tackling the issue.
[1] https://www.tetrapak.com/content/dam/tetrapak/media-box/global/en/documents/sustainability-report-FY23-full-report.pdf