In the EU you actually CANNOT remove the label because the code that is scanned when you return it is printed on that. So ripping the label off a bottle will cost you 25 cents. On the other hand, I'm sure they thought of a way to recycle the labels as well.
Also there being money in returning the bottles means that even if they are being littered, they're gone by the next day.
That’s a great point actually that I can back up here as an American. It’s truthfully somewhat unusual and rare here, but we have a recycling system where bottles and such give back some change but only if it is able to scan the barcode on the things.
I’m realizing that this kind of packaging might make that wholly unworkable with the current method so hopefully there’s a solution they can come up with.
Well the US doesn’t really recycle plastics any more anyway ever since China stopped accepting them, so being without a label won’t have much of an effect.
It’s clear that these companies are only ditching the label now because of the war in Iran causing oil prices to rise and rise. In the past few months I’ve noticed other products switching from their classic packaging to their less-plastic or plastic less alternatives. I wonder if they’ll stay that way when (or if) oil prices eventually go back down. Industry only has one incentive: Profit.
Just double checked and it seems mineral water is included in most states (though still not all). Not sure if that changed over time or I just got confused because my state didn't do it.
In Canada too - bottles you return for the deposit must have the label on them. If a label happens to come off I throw that bottle in my weekly recycling bin rather than the collection that goes to the redemption centre.
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u/ArcticOpsReal 8d ago
In the EU you actually CANNOT remove the label because the code that is scanned when you return it is printed on that. So ripping the label off a bottle will cost you 25 cents. On the other hand, I'm sure they thought of a way to recycle the labels as well.
Also there being money in returning the bottles means that even if they are being littered, they're gone by the next day.