(SA) Mandate Tethered Bottle Caps to Beverage Containers
Author: Ma. Joanna Paula Pascual, Anthea Sheriff, Sebastian Ralph, Bianca Lamaro, Velvet Warnes, Harini Raju, Kyle Langan, Rissa Kho, Jon Cecere, Daniel Ramsay, Kate Choi, Utsav Jaiswal, Caleb Murphy & Mary-Jane Zhang | Publish date: 6/11/2026
P: In SA, caps on single-use plastic beverage containers can be physically separated from the bottle.
S: The SA Minister for the Environment should amend Section 3A of the Single-use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Regulations 2021 (SA) to include ‘untethered plastic closures on beverage containers’ within the established list of banned items.
E: Boomerang Alliance (2026): ‘We’re calling on all governments to … mandate tethered bottle tops’.
Problem Identification:
Section 3A of the Single-use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Regulations 2021 (SA) lists single-use plastic items that are banned from sale and distribution. However, untethered plastic caps and lid closures on beverage containers are not included.
According to Dr Ross Headifen, Co-Founder of Beach Patrol Australia (BPA), this means that ‘hundreds of lids [are found on] beaches every day.’ The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) identified bottle caps as an item at ‘risk of impact to our natural environment and on our existing organics and mechanical recycling processes.’
Context:
A tethered cap refers to a plastic closure that, throughout a bottle’s lifecycle, ‘remain[s] physically attached to the bottle even after opening.’ Randa Lindsey Kachef, Lecturer in Geography at King’s College London, further emphasised that tethered bottle caps put ‘the onus on [producers]’ rather than consumers to reduce waste.
Clean Up Australia stated that SA recorded ‘higher than national average rubbish counts,’ with bottle caps and lids reported as being the fourth-highest category of individual waste items, at 6%.
By 2030, the SA government aims to ‘prevent all avoidable waste being disposed to landfill.’
Arguments:
APCO identified that ‘small caps and closures’ are contributing to ‘unsustainable low recycling rates’. Debbie Rovere, Boomerang Alliance Campaign Lead, stated in a meeting with FORE Good that bottle caps are much harder to recycle when they are not left on the bottle. Australian Bottle Co explained that loose caps are easily ‘separated from the bottle during sorting at recycling facilities’ due to their size and weight. The SA Environmental Protection Authority (SA EPA) found that ‘single-use plastic drink bottle lids are often disposed of improperly,’ as they are frequently littered, or lost in recycling streams.
A 2016 Inquiry by the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee identified that loose bottle caps are ‘known to cause death … and injuries’ to marine fauna. Akhras et al. (2023) noted that discarded caps can readily enter waste streams or the environment. Kristian Peters and Tony Flaherty (2011) reported that ‘small hard-polymer plastic pieces’, including bottle caps and lids, are more likely to be ingested by wildlife due to their size. The Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water explained that plastic debris can cause significant ‘internal injuries’ and ‘starvation following ingestion’ in marine wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund Australia (2025) found that ‘85% of Australian seabirds are affected by plastic pollution.’
Ross Clark (2024) argued that tethered bottle caps are a ‘trivial inconvenience’ and that people are ‘struggling to drink out of them’. However, Don Turrobia (2025) countered that while these bottle caps might seem like ‘bureaucratic overkill’, they also drastically reduce beach litter. Further, Alison Turner (2025) contended that it makes bottle caps ‘harder to throw away as litter’ and ensures they do not ‘get lost in the recycling stream.’
Advice/Solution Identification:
The Werribee River Association and Boomerang Alliance have called for a mandate on tethered bottle caps for beverage containers. SA EPA has highlighted that this mandate could ‘increase the amount of materials that can be both recovered and recycled’. APCO stated small caps and closures have been identified as ‘relatively easily addressed through redesign or alternative approaches.’
Precedent:
There is international and domestic precedent for mandating tethered bottle caps. The EU has legally required ‘attached caps and lids’ to beverage containers since 2024. Domestically, NSW has committed to introduce tethered bottle caps by 2030 with its Plastics Plan 2.0.
Public Support of the Solution:
(This list reflects publicly stated positions and should not necessarily be taken as endorsement of this specific brief.)
Werribee River Association (WRA) - WRA, along with several environmental groups, recommends that ‘Australian Governments … mandate tethered bottle caps’, after new laws in the EU have successfully come into force.
Boomerang Alliance - A group of 55 national, state and local groups that have explicitly called for ‘tethered bottle caps’ in their campaign for a container deposit scheme across Australia. The following groups are part of Boomerang Alliance:
Australians for Refunds on Cans and Bottles (AFROCAB)
Arid Lands Environment Centre
Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS)
BeachPatrol Australia
Better Buds
Boomerang Bags
Cairns and Far North Coast Environment Centre
Clean up Australia
Conservation Council ACT Region
Conservation Council of South Australia
Conservation Council of Western Australia
Cooks River Alliance
Cooks River Valley Association
Environment Centre NT
Environment Tasmania
Environment Victoria
Friends of the Earth
Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council (GECKO)
Good for the Hood
Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network
Green Music Australia
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Householders' Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE)
IDEP Foundation
Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance
Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group
LEAD Group
Living Ocean
Local Government NSW
Manly & Freshwater Surfing Reserve
Mineral Policy Institute
Nature Conservation Council of NSW
No Balloon Release Australia
No More Butts
North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC)
Our Seas Our Future
Plastic Bag Free Victoria
Plastic Free July
Plastic Free Sunraysia
Positive Change for Marine Life
Project AWARE Foundation
Queensland Conservation Council
Responsible Runners
SEA LIFE Trust
Sea Shepherd Australia
Seaside Scavenge
So Shire
Sunshine Coast Environment Council (SCEC)
Surfrider Foundation Australia
Take 3
Tasmanian Conservation Trust
Total Environment Centre Two Hands Project
Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
Zero Waste Revolution Canberra
Broad Support:
Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation - They have called for ‘the phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics packaging’. However, they have not specifically called for tethered bottle caps in SA.
SA Environmental Protection Agency - Under the Beyond recycling: Moving SA towards a circular economy review, they have outlined how mandating tethered bottle caps would ‘reduce the chance that the lid would be littered’. However, they have not directly called for this design standard to be implemented in SA.
News Coverage:
Packaging Insights - “New South Wales announces measures to phase out single-use plastic.” This article reported on NSW’s measures to tackle single-use plastic pollution, particularly its Plastics Plan 2.0, which aimed to introduce tethered caps for plastic bottles by 2030. By: Libby Davis | 13 November 2025 - Read the article here.
ABC News - “Losing the war on waste: On a pristine Australian island, the seabirds have become so full of plastic they crackle and crunch.” This article reported an increase from three-quarters of Australian Shearwaters carrying 5-10 pieces of plastic to every single bird carrying 50 or more pieces, on Lord Howe Island. By: Jake Evans | 15 May 2025 - Read the article here.
CSIRO - “Good news, beach lovers: our research found 39% less plastic waste around Australian coastal cities than a decade ago.” This article reported on CSIRO’s 2022–2024 national coastal debris survey, identifying hard plastic bottle caps and lids as among the most frequently encountered items across 6 Australian cities, including Port Augusta in SA. By: Stephanie Brodie & Britta Hardesty | 7 April 2025 - Read the article here.
PKN Packaging News - “Push for tethered bottle caps to reduce waste.” This article reported on the joint advocacy by BeachPatrol Australia and Boomerang Alliance calling for Australian governments to mandate tethered caps. By: Navan Kaur | 30 September 2024 - Read the article here.
Where to go to learn more:
(2024) Cap Hack: Tethered Caps Will Slash Waste and Litter | BeachPatrol Australia, Boomerang Alliance - This joint media release from environmental groups BeachPatrol Australia and Boomerang Alliance has directly called for Australian governments to mandate tethered bottle caps on beverage containers. Read the full release here.
(2025) Cutting Plastic Pollution at the Source: Opportunities for improving packaging in Australia | Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) - This report has advocated for the reduction of plastic pollution and has called for design changes, such as tethered lids to prevent loose plastic from entering the marine environment. Read the report here.
(2025) Litter Report FY25 | Clean Up Australia - This report found that beverage litter, including bottle caps, accounted for 62.6% of all litter counted in the 2025 Financial Year and has highlighted the mandate of tethered bottle lids as an effective measure for litter prevention. Read the full report here.
(2026) National Packaging Reform: Extended Producer Responsibility – Best Practice Product Stewardship Scheme for Packaging | Boomerang Alliance - This report has stated the importance of producer accountability, encouraging the packaging industry to take full responsibility and pay for the costs of its waste and pollution decisions. Read the report here.
(2021) Rubbish Report South Australia | Clean Up Australia - This report found SA recorded higher than national average rubbish counts, with bottle caps and lids as the fourth-highest category of individual litter items in public spaces, at 6%. Read the full report here.
Single-use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Regulations 2021 (SA) - Read the full Regulations here.
Human Perspective:
Danielle had recently returned home to Adelaide from a trip to Europe, where she noticed that plastic bottle caps were tethered to their bottles. It was a small design change which she had not thought much about at the time. Once back in Adelaide, Danielle joined her local Torrens River clean-up group. She spent an hour picking through grass and mud, pulling out bottle caps one after another. They were everywhere: caught in the grass, lodged in the mud, and floating at the water’s edge. Volunteers told her it was the same every month. It occurred to her then that no tethered bottle-cap requirement existed in Adelaide, like it did in Europe. At the clean-up group, Danielle learnt that bottle caps were among the most common items collected – small enough to slip through stormwater drains, light enough to travel far, and easily separated from the bottles they once sealed. She also learnt that many are significantly harder to recycle as they fall through sorting systems or are rejected as contamination. However, Daniella was most disheartened to learn that even when people dispose of their bottles correctly, the caps often end up lost to the environment anyway. By the end of the morning, the group had filled dozens of bags. But they knew the next rain would bring more. For Danielle and the other volunteers, this felt less like a littering problem and more like a design problem. The fix, as they saw it, was simple – keep the cap attached to the bottle so it stays in the system, out of parks, out of waterways, and out of landfill.
To protect the anonymity of those involved, this is a fictionalised account drawn from an amalgamation of real-life stories, experiences and testimonials gathered during the research process for this brief. Any resemblance to actual individuals is purely coincidental.
Conflict of interest/acknowledgment statement:
Dr. Ross Headifen (President of Beach Patrol Australia) confirmed their support for this recommendation and provided quotes in a meeting with FORE Australia held on 15 April 2026.
Debbie Rovere (Engagement Lead for Boomerang Alliance) confirmed their support for this recommendation and provided quotes in a meeting with FORE Australia held on 28 April 2026.
Support
If your organisation would like to add your support to this paper or suggest amendments, please email hello@foregood.org.au.
Disclaimers
Please review all FORE disclaimers here.
Reference list:
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