[rekoil]

I'm sorry, are you talking about the plastic caps that stay attached to plastic bottles so that they are more likely to be disposed of properly rather than end up in some marine (or other nature) environment?

I cannot believe you're comparing that (an effort designed to make recycling more effective, which is generally a good thing) to EU citizens entirely losing our access to privacy in the digital world.

[rvnx]

The same, it solves a marginal problem (people that throw away on the highway only the plastic caps, and somehow keep separate the bottle), in an absurd way that punishes all the nice users, again, just to solve a small % of very cases.

The guys who somehow enjoy throwing away plastic caps, will likely remove it anyway.

The same with the spying, all users will suffer, but those who want to work around it, will find a way.

The irony is that it makes driving more dangerous now, as you need two hands to drink from a water bottle.

[rekoil]

Punish is a strong word, it slightly inconveniences all "the nice users".

It's really not that big of a deal honestly, you unscrew the bottle, flip the cap up (it kinda locks like that and stays out of your way in one of the designs I've seen, in the other it's just attached and can easily be kept out of the way with a finger), then you drink, I fail to see how you suddenly need two hands as opposed to before...

[vidarh]

If anything, I've come to like them because you now don't need to hold on to the cap.

[salawat]

>Punish is a strong word, it slightly inconveniences all "the nice users".

Stop using weak language and call a spade a spade.

[gabaix]

Not debating the merits of this case.

There are many regulations that slightly inconvenience the many, to address the problems of a few. Individually these cases are benign. As a group they compound complexity.

Each new reform should be evaluated on both its benefits and the burden that it brings.

[rekoil]

Wholeheartedly agree. But we (as a society) have neglected the environment for far too fucking long now, some inconvenience for tiny gains is valid until we start seeing societal and environmental improvements.

[CalRobert]

I use these caps one-handed plenty...

[harperlee]

> it makes driving more dangerous now, as you need two hands to drink from a water bottle.

What? That is absurd, you don't need two hands just because the lid remains attached.

[rvnx]

The lid scratches your nose or eye so you need to use the second hand to hold the lid

[harperlee]

(or one of the five fingers of the first hand)

[ffgjgf1]

How exactly do bottle caps in the EU end up in marine environments? And if they do that should be pretty easy to fix.

These regulations won’t do anything to stop countries in Asia, Africa and other places from pumping their garbage into rivers and oceans…

To be fair I don’t really mind the bottle caps (unlike the plastic straw ban) but it hardly accomplishes anything beautiful allowing people in the EU to feel better about themselves because they are doing their part (which is possibly actually counterproductive).

[sunbum]

But they are, as it becomes easier to just produce one version the bottle caps attached to the bottle will spread to other countries[1]

[1]- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect

[rvnx]

The solution was an EU-wide plastic bottle deposit, this way, it pushes people to bring back intact bottles with their caps and get ~0.10 EUR back for each.

And if you are too lazy to bring it back or just a person who throws away stuff carelessly, someone else will do (big sorting centers as it's a big revenue-stream, the cleaners, the homelesses, some bored students, etc).

[vidarh]

I'm all for requiring bottle deposit/returns schemes. I loved the Norwegian one for example, but if you require the return of both or nothing, you will likely end up with a net reduction in returned plastic. If you were to reward returns separately, maybe. But even then you'd be more likely to ensure caps don't get lost if they stay attached.