Vending

Coca-Cola UK introduces bottles with attached caps

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May 19, 2022

Coca-Cola Co.'s U.K. business has introduced packaging that keeps plastic lids attached to bottles to make it easier for consumers to recycle the full bottle, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Plastic caps can be recycled, but they are easily lost, ending up as litter, the company said in a statement.

The company began introducing the hinged lids Tuesday on 1.5-liter Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke and Fanta in Scotland. All plastic Coca-Cola brand bottles in the U.K. will feature the design in the U.K. by 2024, and eventually across Europe.

The company's European business initially tested attached caps in 2021 in Spain when a European Union directive on single-use plastics took effect. By 2024 the bottles will be required to cut the "dispersal of container caps and lids made of plastic into the environment" using designs such as hinged caps, according to the directive.