I know they’re supposed to be good for the environment. But… Holy smokes they drive me up the wall. They really do!
I had no trouble adapting when aluminum can pull-tabs got replaced by push-tabs, because it was pretty much the same movement, and I could see the immediate advantage of not getting cut by a pull-tab.
But the tethered cap is fighting decades of muscle memory in me: I’m used to taking the cap off with one hand and keeping it there while taking a swig with the other. Now I unscrew the cap with one hand, but I still have to hold the cap so it’s out of the way. It feels like drinking in handcuffs each and every time…
So unlike the pull-tab, the tethered plastic bottle cap is one of those compulsory eco solutions that constantly make you feel ever-so-slightly more miserable all the time, and I hate that because ecology only works when it brings something of value both to people and to the environment.
Perhaps it’s the make of the bottle the ones I’ve seen (mainly coke zero and iron bru) don’t seem to get in the way, dangle or inconvenience me. The only awkwardness is closing the bottle again, you need to give it a little tug to align it right before closing it. I have to trust that if it even stops 1% of the damage we are doing to the planet then a little awkwardness is acceptable. Because every little helps. I could easily argue they are not doing enough elsewhere before inconveniencing me, but at the same time we all should be doing everything we can to turn back the damage we are doing to the planet, we all live here afterall. Unfortunately not everyone thinks that way so we need to attach bottle tops and drink through paper straws.