The European Commission has updated its single-use plastic guidelines to clarify that aluminium foil lids sealed onto a plastic beverage container are excluded from tethering requirements.
Under Article 6 of Directive (EU) 2019/904, Member States may only allow single-use plastic beverage containers with a capacity of up to 3L to be placed on the market if their caps or lids remain attached.
This rule does not apply to glass or metal beverage containers that have caps and lids made from plastic, or to beverage containers containing liquids intended and used for food for special medical purposes.
Commission Notice C/2026/4813 updates the measures set out in Directive (EU) 2019/904. Table 7 in section 4.4.2 provides illustrative examples of caps and lids for single-use plastic beverage bottles and containers and specifies whether they are included or excluded from the Directive’s tethering requirement.
Under the updated guidelines, a single-use plastic beverage container with a plastic cap and sealed aluminium foil lid is only partially excluded from the requirement. It applies to the plastic cap, but not the foil lid, which is not considered as a plastic component under Article 6(2).
“For producers using mixed plastic and aluminium closures, particularly in dairy packaging, the clarification resolves a compliance question that had no direct answer in the previous version of the guidelines,” says Mattheo Squeo, founder of The Green Clause and member of the Permanent Delegation of the Court of Justice, the General Court and the EFTA Court.
Packaging Europe previously dove deeper into consumer debate around tethered bottle caps. While some consider it a small adjustment for the greater good, others have complained of injuries from sharp tethers, difficulty resealing drinks, and accessibility issues for certain consumers – arguing that the public is expected to bear the burden of inconvenience while corporations cause far more environmental harm.
In another development, the Commission recently missed its self-imposed deadline to publish implementing acts that would harmonize the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation’s labelling requirements for recycled content, reusable packaging, and consumer sorting. This has raised concerns about a ‘very tight’ deadline to comply with the rules.
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