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.

    • bjorneyEnglish
      64•7 months ago

      The plastic liners in and on tins and cans - referred to as lacquer in the industry - don’t impact recycling. When the tins are heated to thousands of degrees for recycling, what is left of the plastic liner, the inks and UV materials; is separated and basically skimmed off, leaving the metal.

      https://ekko.world/plastic-lining-on-beverage-food-cans/226751

      • @[email protected]English
        6•7 months ago

        I had only learned of the liner this year, and have been wondering about this ever since, but always forgot what I wanted to look up every time I got to the search bar. You have rescued me from repeating this for the remainder of the year, and have my thanks. All of the thanks.

    • @[email protected]English
      11•7 months ago

      Aluminium cans have a thin plastic liner inside them that’s almost impossible to recycle

      Confidently incorrect as a motherfucker.

      You’re saying without hesitation that one of the most recycled and recyclable materials ever created is flat out not recyclable. What the fuck?

    • @[email protected]English
      3•7 months ago

      Cans are great from an energy-consumption point of view when viewing the entire lifecycle of a can.