Plastic bottle return rate for caps reaches 99.73 percent in Denmark

Almost all returned plastic bottles in Denmark now include their caps. New figures show 99.73 percent of returned deposit bottles had caps on in 2025. This is a rise of 9.73 percentage points compared to 2024. People in Denmark returned nearly 56 million more caps in 2025.

This change follows new regulations from the European Union. The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive took effect on July 3, 2024. The rule requires caps to stay attached to single-use plastic bottles and cartons. The Copenhagen Post reported these figures.