Introduction

The Directive (EU) 2019/904 “on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment” introduces the requirement that plastic caps and lids of single-use plastic beverage containers and composite beverage packaging up to 3 litres capacity shall remain attached to the container during the intended use stage.”

This document was developed with the principal objective of:

- Characterizing the attachment of the cap or lid to the container by a minimum resistance to a tensile force and the ability to remain attached to the container over the products intended use stage.
- Defining the test methods and performance criteria to ensure that the beverage container has met legal requirements.
- Ensuring that safety aspects of the attachment feature have been considered.

The intended use stage of the product infers that the attachment feature must resist normal handling of the cap or lid by the consumer to access the contents and, if necessary, reclose the container for subsequent further servings of the beverage. Intentional forced separation of the cap from the container will always be possible and is formally excluded from “intended use” as considered in this document.

The development of this document takes into account the necessity not to undermine the requirements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) and its amendments in particular terms of:

- Prevention, limiting the packaging volume and weight to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary functionality, by avoiding the use of excessive material.
- Recyclability and recycling capability.

In the course of the development of this document it was identified that the attachment of caps and lids to the container may interfere with established and efficient plastic bottle recycling equipment, particularly if attached caps or lids hang loose. This aspect is outside of the scope of this document, but it is recommended that the user takes into consideration best practice guidelines established by the stakeholders.