Custom designed bottles for recycling

It has never been a secret that hawkers recycle used mineral water bottles, fill it with tap water (ok, a believed to be fit for drinking water, with no visible impurities) and sell it back to thirty passengers who neither have patience to check the purity of the water, nor have an alternate option to quench their thirst.

What surprised me, that some manufacturers of mineral water bottles, knowingly or unknowingly are directly assisting this “sell new water in old bottle” lobby, due a faulty design of bottle caps.

Ideally, a cap of a sealed mineral water bottle will have two parts- the main cap and a circular ring which is factory sealed with the main cap. (I don’t know exact technical term-assume description given gives an idea what I am referring to) When you buy a new original mineral water bottle and twist open its cap, the seal breaks, the cap comes out and circular ring remains in the bottle neck. Since ordinary hawker can’t reseal the bottle easily (without necessary equipment and other facilities), by and large one can believe that water is pure and original if the seal is not tampered with.

Now see the below image. Here, the cap came out, along with the sealing ring. The bond between the sealing ring and main cap is so thick and loose, the seal doesn’t break when you twist open the cap. Instead, cap comes of along with the sealing ring. With this kind of bottle cap design, it is extremely easy to recycle- just fill water and force the cap. This is either carelessness of the manufacturer, or done intentionally to aid the lobby which sells tap water in old bottles. I suspect the later.

 (Unless the manufacturer is hand in glove with the refillers, it is loss for him to facilitate refilling like this)

Be a bit careful next time.

Related: Supermarket Super savings- A word of caution * Indian Railway goes crazy-adds extra berth

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