It has helped the environment that the plastic caps are now attached to the bottles.
Økologisk NuThere was some debate and perhaps irritation among many when the EU introduced a requirement that the caps on plastic bottles must stay attached. However, the positive effect of this requirement is now evident. New data shows that almost all caps—99.73%—are still attached to the bottles when consumers return them for recycling, resulting in fewer caps ending up in nature or incineration. Before the EU regulation came into effect, the figure was around 90%, so there has been an increase of nearly 10 percentage points, corresponding to approximately 56 million more plastic caps collected. In total, about 680 million plastic caps were collected in 2025. "Consumers have gotten used to the attached caps, and today we do not see dissatisfaction. But the fact that we now get even more caps back is also a success for producers. The caps have simply become easier to push aside, so fewer consumers remove them completely. It is positive that we get the caps back so they can be recycled within the deposit and return system instead of ending up in nature or as waste," says Hanne Svenningsen, head of climate and environment at Dansk Retursystem, in a press release. Currently, the caps are recycled into other plastic products of lower quality. It is technically possible to recycle the caps into new caps again, but this requires EU approval for the recycled caps to be used in food packaging—an EFSA approval. "We naturally also want to be able to tell the same good story about the caps, and therefore we would like to see an EU approval for the recycled caps, so producers have the opportunity to use plastic from attached caps for new caps," says Hanne Svenningsen.
It sparked debate and perhaps also some irritation among many when the EU introduced a requirement that the caps on plastic bottles should be permanently attached. Now, however, the positive effect of the requirement is evident. New figures show that almost all caps - 99.73 percent - are still attached to the deposit bottles when consumers return them for recycling, thereby resulting in fewer ending up in nature or incineration.
Before the EU regulation came into force, the figure was around 90 percent, so there has been an increase of nearly 10 percentage points, which corresponds to approximately 56 million more plastic caps collected. In total, about 680 million plastic caps were collected in 2025.
"Consumers have gotten used to the attached caps, and today we do not experience dissatisfaction. But the fact that we now get even more back is also a win for the producers. The caps have simply become easier to push aside, and therefore fewer consumers are removing them completely. It is positive that we get the caps back so they can be recycled in the deposit and return system instead of ending up in nature or as waste," says Hanne Svenningsen, head of climate and environment at Dansk Retursystem, in a press release.
Today, the caps are recycled into other plastic products of lower quality. It is technically possible to recycle the caps into new caps again, but this requires EU approval for the recycled caps to be used for food packaging - a so-called EFSA approval.
"We naturally also want to tell the same good story about the caps, and therefore we would like to see an EU approval of the recycled caps, so that producers have the opportunity to use plastic from the attached caps for new caps," says Hanne Svenningsen.