Connect the Plastic Bottle Cap!

Single-use plastic beverage caps are easily separated and discarded, and continue to be among the top collected items at Surfrider beach cleanups across the country, totaling approximately 190,000 over the past ten years. These caps can be swallowed by wildlife causing sickness, starvation, and even death. Caps that aren’t ingested continue to break down into microplastics that make their way up the food chain and pollute our environment.  

SB 45 (Padilla & Blakespear) is a commonsense solution to address bottle cap litter by requiring a tether so that the cap will remain attached to the bottle. When bottle caps are connected to the plastic bottle, they will reduce plastic cap litter and increase the recycling rate of caps. Due to their small size, if bottle caps are not attached, they have a higher likelihood of ending up in landfills or incinerated rather than recycled.

This bill follows a similar law that went into effect in the European Union and requires plastic beverage containers of less than three liters to have an attached bottle cap by 2027. Plastic beverage containers with a recycling rate greater than 70 percent will have an additional year—until 2028—to comply.

If successful, SB 45 would be the first law of its kind in the nation.