You've been opening plastic bottles incorrectly.

We all know the struggle of those attached bottle caps. They have a habit of poking us in the eye, causing scratches and flinging water into our eyeballs. While we applaud the effort to reduce plastic waste, we can't deny that these attached lids can be quite annoying.

To ensure both the bottle and the lid are recycled, the new trend is to attach the lid to the bottle with two small pieces of plastic. However, this also means that the lid can't be fully removed, causing inconvenience for many of us.

But fear not, because we have discovered the right way to deal with these attached bottle caps. It turns out, we've been opening them wrong this whole time. Instead of trying to pull the lid off like a normal cap, we need to first unscrew the bottle cap and then unscrew the lid so it's sticking out to one side. Simple, right?

But wait, there's more! Most of us stop here, but the plastic ring around the neck of the bottle can actually split into two. This means we can pull the lid back over the neck and onto the other side, leaving the cap facing down and out of our way. No more scratches on the face!

Still confused? Check out the handy demonstration on TikTok. Many viewers were blown away by this simple yet effective tip, claiming they were "mind blown." TikToker Venomania even questioned why we were never told to do this before.

But before you go trying this hack on all your bottles, be warned that it doesn't work for all of them. For example, Coca Cola bottles do not have the plastic ring that splits in two. This new design was actually mandated by a 2018 EU directive in an effort to reduce single-use plastic waste on beaches.

Companies selling drinks in the EU were given until July 3, 2024 to fully implement this change. When it was first introduced, many people were not happy with the new design. Some even took to social media to express their frustration, tagging environmentalist Greta Thunberg and complaining about the inconvenience and potential harm of these attached caps.

But now, with the correct way to open these bottles, hopefully drinking from them will be a little less traumatic. Have you tried this hack yet? Share your experience with us by emailing us. We would love to hear your story.

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[Generative AI is experimental.]