The EU has ruined plastic water bottles

Hurrah, the problem of plastic waste has been sorted – as of this summer all plastic water bottles sold in the EU have to come with a cap that is tethered to the rest of the bottle. If the cap comes attached to the bottle, goes the thinking, then consumers are less likely to discard it – bottle and cap will end up being recycled together.

But don’t count on it. People have already started moaning that they are struggling to drink out of the new bottles because the cap is in the way, or that it makes it hard to pour from the bottle. There is a solution, of course, which is simply to rip off the cap – which anyone will be able to do so long as they are capable of summoning 25 Newtons of force (which is the required standard laid down in the new rules).