Plastic Bottle Confesses Its Cap And Label Were Never Part Of The Recycling Plan

BRUSSELS—Coca-Cola, Nestle and Danone have agreed to change the recycling claims on their plastic bottles in the European Union, and the bottles, for their part, said they were relieved to finally be honest about the cap and the label.

Under commitments announced after talks with the European Commission and national consumer authorities, labels saying a bottle is made from 100 percent recycled plastic will now read "This bottle is 100% recycled. Excluding cap and label." Labels urging shoppers to "Recycle me again" will become simply "Recycle me," because the bottle had not, it turns out, been recycled before.

"For years I said I was 100 percent recycled, and I was, from the neck down," said a 500 ml bottle reached in a recycling bin in Ghent. "The cap was brand new. The label was brand new. We didn't talk about it at dinner."

• The bottle 88%
• The cap 7%
• The label 5%

What Is Recycled In A "100% Recycled" Bottle

The bottle	88%
The cap	7%
The label	5%

Source: Interview with a 500 ml bottle, conducted in a recycling bin; cap and label declined to comment

Marketing experts said the new wording could start a trend. "Every product has a cap and a label," said Ines Valcourt-Meyer, a packaging consultant in Lyon. "Your granola is 100 percent oats, excluding sugar. Your gym membership is 100 percent flexible, excluding cancellation."

"I'm not angry at the cap. The cap was just doing what caps do, which is leaving."

The companies also agreed not to pair bottles with other green claims or symbols in ways that suggest plastic itself is good for the planet, which the bottle said was fair, though it would miss the drawing of a leaf.

Consumer authorities in each country will now monitor the changes. The cap, reached separately at the bottom of a beach bag, said it had nothing to add, and rolled under a car.