All plastic bottle caps to be 'tethered' from next month 

The initiative, which prevents the separation of the cap from the container, has already irritated many consumers - but it's here to stay, extending to all plastic bottles from July 3.

All plastic bottle caps will all be “tethered” from next month, the Department of Environment has confirmed.

The initiative, which prevents the separation of the cap from the container, has already irritated many consumers - but it's here to stay, extending to all plastic bottles from July 3.

From this date, all beverage containers placed on the European market must have the cap tethered to the container. 

This applies to all beverage containers, including bottles, cartons and pouches, up to 3 litres in size.

The new system is the latest effort by the Government to reduce plastic waste, under the EU 'single use plastics' directive.

The EU Single Use Plastics Directive, adopted in June 2019, aims to reduce the environmental impact caused by single-use plastics.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment says these caps account for about 15% of packaging litter and are particularly harmful to wildlife.

Additionally, caps which are placed in recycling bins tend to be too small and too light for recycling sorting equipment to handle and typically end up as non-recycled residual waste.

By preventing the separation of the cap from the container, caps are collected and recycled in far greater numbers and do not pollute the environment.

As of June 1, only containers displaying the Re-turn logo can be legally sold to consumers.

The Deposit Return Scheme has seen a consistent increase in weekly average return rates since it was launched on February 1.

The scheme is now averaging 2.5m containers returned daily, a significant rise from the 2m containers returned in the entire month of February.