U.S.  companies like SpaceX are leaders in global space innovation. Over the past decade, SpaceX has developed smaller, lighter, and more efficient rockets than anything previously seen in the space industry. For instance, their Starship project aims to revolutionize space travel with reusable rockets, cutting launch costs by up to 70%, and unlocking commercial space tourism and interplanetary travel potential. Since 2016, SpaceX has successfully reduced the number of necessary rocket parts, speeding up production time and cutting costs by millions. It is estimated that SpaceX invested 1.9 billion dollars (Inflation adjusted) in R&D to develop the Falcon 9 reusable rocket launchers. 

Moreover, it has established its dominance in space exploration, as it is responsible for 80% of all payloads delivered to orbit. Most recently, the company was able to return its rocket and land on a gyroscopic platform – the only company in the world able to achieve this feat and possess the know-how behind the technology.

Meanwhile, in the European Union, regulatory focus has shifted to reducing plastic waste reduction. A key example is the EU directive requiring permanently attached plastic bottle caps to prevent excessive littering. While the measure has good intentions, it distracts from the broader global race in technological innovation. Europe is indeed a big plastic waste producer, with more than 53 million metric tons in 2019, but so is every region with a large consumer population. In reality, Europe fares comparatively better than regions such as North America, Asia, and North and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the latest UN estimates. Also, Europe’s recycling program accounts for less than 15 percent of waste disposed across the continent, which shows that there are far more helpful ways to innovate in waste management than attempts to change consumer habits. 

The shocking and concerning surprise is that the directive has achieved the exact opposite of its intentions. According to an independent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), tethered caps could result in between 50,000 and 200,000 tons of additional plastic being used annually and a further 58-381 million kg CO2 equivalent of emissions. If the environmental consequences weren’t enough, the study also calculated the cost of introducing tethered caps to be between 2.7 billion and 8.7 billion euros necessary to adapt bottling lines. Companies will need to pass on this massive investment to consumers, who have seen their preferred beverages increase in price. The policy further creates an enormous opportunity cost for companies that could have used that money to make their products better, more efficient, healthier, or even cheaper for the end consumer. EU bureaucracy has failed to fix the problem by ignoring the costs it creates. Instead, it has punished consumers by depriving them of innovation and improvements in areas they care about.