We’ve all been there, right? Thirsty, trying futilely to unscrew a bottle we swore was easier to open in days past, then left with chafed hands after finally prying the cap off (since we were too embarrassed to ask for help).
“Wrap rage” – frustration over battling with hard-to-open bottles and other packages – is nothing new. Now, as efforts to protect our environment ramp up, a new phase of wrap rage is leading to shouts of “ow” in kitchens around the world.
In an article from more than 20 years ago, CBS News said that people already felt that packaging had become harder to open. At that time, the outlet reported that Great Britain had recorded 67,000 injures related to packaging in a single year.
Today, experts say that some packaging is getting even harder to open, particularly single-use plastic bottles. For reference, an estimated 11 million tons of plastic waste such as these single-use bottles enters the world’s oceans annually, according to the U.S. Department of State. This plastic pollution has a negative impact on biodiversity and the environment.
According to CNN, more than 1 million bottles of water are sold every minute around the world. By 2030, global sales of bottled water are expected to double. Forbes reported in 2022 that some companies are working on alternatives to plastic water bottles.
To mitigate the impact of plastic pollution, companies have also started making the caps on plastic bottles smaller, USA Today reported. Citing Min DeGruson, a professor and director of packaging at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the outlet said milk carton caps, for example, have been reduced from 21 millimeters tall to 17 millimeters tall, a 19% decrease.
A study by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality also cited by USA Today found that shrinking the cap and thinning the plastic bottle reduced the global warming footprint of the package by about 18%.
While a 4-millimeter difference might not seem like much, it is enough to leave someone with a sore hand after struggling to get their bottle open, said Alaster Yoxall, a professor of packaging ergonomics at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. He even boiled it down to a formula: T= μ*N*r.
“The shorter the height, the less grippable area,” he explained. “So we can’t apply our maximum grip force, and we struggle.”
Apart from complaining, cursing and nursing sore hands, consumers are finding ways to deal with the shift, said USA Today. Near Center City, Wisc., retired marine Fred Wolden keeps a pair of pliers in his kitchen to get stubborn caps off.
Since the shift to smaller caps is gradual, some consumers might not have noticed the change yet, noted Patrick Krieger, vice president of sustainability at the Plastics Industry Association. USA Today said it started first with soda and water bottles, followed by milk bottles.
Rafael Auras, chair of Michigan State University’s program in packaging sustainability, said that there has been a strong incentive for decades to reduce the weight of containers, which helps reduce shipping costs in addition to reducing the environmental impact of the containers. He said that from 2005 to 2010, Walmart mandated that all their suppliers reduce their packaging weight.
Yoxall thinks companies should look for a better solution that balances the benefits of smaller caps while making sure consumers can open products without too much struggle.
“The packaging industry is being hamered to reduce its environmental impact, that’s the thing everybody’s focusing on,” he said, per USA Today. “But people like me, we’re knocking on the door and gently saying ‘Yeah, but people have to use this stuff – they have to be able to get into it.’”