If anyone still needed a proof that the Eurocrats and the Green Nazis are the most patent retards the humankind has ever seen (except maybe for the State of California, to which, according to the list of over 900 substances listed in Proposition 65, even the wood dust is “known to cause cancer” since December 18, 2009), the latest PET bottles cap introduced in 2023 are a strong argument.

This is a requirement of the EU Directive 2019/904:

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/904 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment

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Whereas:

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(17) Caps and lids made of plastic which are used for beverage containers are among the single-use plastic items that are found the most on beaches in the Union. Therefore, beverage containers that are single-use plastic products should only be allowed to be placed on the market if they fulfil specific product design requirements that significantly reduce the dispersal into the environment of beverage container caps and lids made of plastic. For beverage containers that are both single-use plastic products and packaging, that requirement is in addition to the essential requirements on the composition and the re-usable and recoverable, including recyclable, nature of packaging set out in Annex II to Directive 94/62/EC.

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Article 6
Product requirements

1. Member States shall ensure that single-use plastic products listed in Part C of the Annex that have caps and lids made of plastic may be placed on the market only if the caps and lids remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended use stage.

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They should award an Ig Nobel to whoever thought of tethered caps.