Dive Brief:
- There’s a new stateside push to require that plastic beverage containers have tethered caps to reduce litter and aid recycling, following such a requirement taking force in the European Union last July. California is the latest state with movement on tethered caps, following activity in Illinois earlier this year.
- California’s SB 45, sponsored by state Sens. Steve Padilla and Catherine Blakespear, would require cap tethering to start in 2027. As written, the bill would allow an additional year for compliance for plastic beverage containers with a recycling rate exceeding 70%. Requirements would not apply to beverage containers over 3 liters, or to containers for beer and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirits and 100% fruit juice.
- The bill passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on March 19 and next goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill has support from recyclers and environmental groups but has drawn opposition from some business groups.
Dive Insight:
Caps, given their small design, often slip through recycling systems and end up as waste. Citing decades of cleanup data from the California Coastal Commission, Padilla says bottle caps have been the third most common litter item collected on California beaches since 1988. But opponents note that there could be better consumer education on reattaching caps to bottles to boost their recycling.
This is not California’s first time considering the concept. In 2018, AB 2779 pushed for connected caps. That bill did not advance.
Back then, the idea of tethered caps was new, said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. But given the EU’s adoption of a directive in 2019 with requirements that took effect in 2024, “it seemed like this was a good time to give it another shot,” he said.
Listed supporters of SB 45 include the Association of Plastics Recyclers, the Product Stewardship Institute, numerous environmental groups as well as waste and recycling companies such as Recology, Republic Services and Waste Connections.
Bottled water company CG Roxane, along with Packaging companies Berry Global, Sidel and Tetra Pak, are some of the businesses that have adapted their product offerings to accommodate either the EU tethered cap regulations or anticipated regulations in the U.S.
There’s more support for a California bill now than in 2018, Murray said. But the beverage industry, including the American Beverage Association, opposes such a measure.
“California’s beverage companies have worked with state leaders for years to pass landmark measures to reduce plastic waste. But SB 45 goes too far by raising grocery costs for working families and jeopardizing union manufacturing and retail jobs,” said William Dermody, vice president of media and public affairs for the American Beverage Association, in an emailed statement. “Further, the additional tethering required on each bottle will create more plastic waste in the environment, not less.”
In addition to the movement in California, Illinois state Sen. Laura Murphy introduced the Plastic Bottle Cap Reduction Act in January. It would require that the caps on single-use plastic beverage containers either be tethered or include an opening through which the beverage can be consumed while the cap remains affixed to the container. It also calls for these containers and their caps to have the same resin identification codes.
