New bottle caps will help stop plastic “killing wildlife slowly and painfully”, a Fianna Fáil TD has said.
An EU directive means plastic bottle caps are no longer unscrewed and are instead attached to the bottle.
The hope is the measure will boost recycling rates among member states and Cork South West TD Christopher O’Sullivan said he is strongly in favour of the measure.
Speaking on Moncreiff, Deputy O’Sullivan said it “ties in nicely” with the DRS as it allows both the cap and the bottle to be recycled together.
“There’s targets that we have in Europe to reach 77% recycling in terms of single use plastic,” he said.
“At the moment, Ireland we’re down under 30 - which isn’t too bad from an EU wide perspective.
“So, the Deposit Return Scheme is one element of trying to achieve that goal and it will help us achieve that goal.”
Fianna Fáil has published an explainer video on the issue and Deputy O’Sullivan said he himself has only recently realised that he was not recycling his waste correctly.
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“I would have separated the bottle cap from the actual main body of the plastic body because I was under the impression over the years the cap part of it wasn’t recyclable,” he said.
“So, I would have put that in the bin and I would have put the main body of the bottle in the recycling.”
Plastic bottle caps make up an estimated 15% of all waste on Irish streets and Deputy O’Sullivan hopes this figure will be sharply reduced in the coming months.
“The [unattached] cap is so small it tends to go to the bottom of the recycling bin,” he said.
“Then it doesn’t get picked up at the recycling centre.
“Another element of what was happening is that even if it does make it to the sorting machine, the sorting machine is picking up the recyclable plastic.
“It picks up the main body of the bottle no problem but it ignores the cap because it’s too small and it’s too light.
“Therefore, it doesn’t get recycled and it ends up in the refuse bin.”
'An irritation'
Deputy O’Sullivan admitted the caps can be an “absolute pain” to drink out of but feels they are worth it for the sake of the planet.
“It is an irritation but I think we have to ask ourselves the question in this day and age about the balance between a slightly irritating measure that we’re going to have to get used to,” he said.
“Compared to the benefits in terms of recycling and spotting these caps and plastic ring getting into water streams, the ocean and essentially killing wildlife slowly and painfully.”
Only 28% of plastic waste was recycled in Ireland in 2019.
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