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.

    • @[email protected]
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      169 months ago

      You can, but there’s enough plastic to make it non-trivial, particularly if you don’t want to risk destroying the cap.

      They definitely mess with your muscle memory, both when opening it, and drinking from it.

      • @[email protected]OP
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        99 months ago

        I tried to take them off a few times until I realized it was on purpose and not a manufacturing defect.

        The problem isn’t the force it takes to rip it off: that’s easy enough to do. The problem is that the now-free cap has sharp edges that really hurt, and the plastic bottle now has an annoying dangling plastic tail.

    • @[email protected]
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      79 months ago

      When they first introduced these, my brother thought it was a defect and ripped it off. It leaves a pretty sharp bit of plastic behind and he cut his hand when he screwed the lid back on. I get the idea behind them (it’s so you have to recycle the cap along with the bottle) but there’s got to be a better way than this. It makes it a pain to pour a drink or drink directly from the bottle.

    • LostXOR
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      69 months ago

      You can, but it takes a considerable amount of force.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 months ago

      In my experience it leaves after a sharp edge when you rip the cap off which then pokes your hands when you try to put the cap back on.