back in ancient times (1960s) I remember my older brother had a little trolley to pull around picking up glass coke bottles:

I think he'd get 3pence per bottle.

Coca Cola used to wash them, sterilise them and reuse them. Same with milk bottles. You used to get 6pence for milk bottles. People used to leave them out on the front step for the milkman and they'd often get stolen. They certainly didn't litter the streets and waterways like the plastic bottles do now.

I think companies that use plastic containers to market their product should find a way to make similarly reusable containers.

Now I have to go be back later.

I think companies that use plastic containers to market their product should find a way to make similarly reusable containers.

While the containers aren't reusable as containers, they are turned into products like Trex© plastic decking and outdoor chairs, among numerous other things.

Icy......I have a bottle exactly like that sitting on my desk........it says, Medford, Ore (my town) on the bottom.

well ppl obviously aren't buying enough "Trex© plastic decking and outdoor chairs, among numerous other things" to make a much of a difference in the amount of plastic garbage are they? Besides, you see a lot of plastic outdoor setting chairs and tables in landfill too.

I mean drinks manufacturers and producers should take responsibility for the trash they're helping to create by making their bottles reusable.

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@this-one-time-at-bandcamp wrote:

 

Icy......I have a bottle exactly like that sitting on my desk........it says, Medford, Ore (my town) on the bottom.

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I'm so happy for you.

now I really have to go.

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@***super_nova*** wrote:

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Yes, and having to take their bottles back will give incentive for the beverage companies to be looking for new ideas how to recycle the bottles, and/or for better materials that are easier to recycle. 

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They already do.

Packaging and freight would be two of the biggest costs of the product.

I remember being at Shell HQ and one of the blokes we were dealing with had a CAD program on his computer

designing a new oil bottle. He was adjusting the corners and seeing how it affected the strength.

I asked him why he spent so much time on it and the reason was, they try to use the least amount of material and 1/2 mm less material saves millions of $. I asked how and he said each bottle saved say, 1 cents then multiply that by 50 million bottles.

I agree re incentives.

I agree with icy, they should go back to reusable glass bottles or aluminium. If that means putting the price up so be it, people drink too much soft drink anyway.

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@aps1080 wrote:

No, of course they don't.

It's just the bottle and can industries are more readily accessible and "squeezable".

Bit like the UN HRC, they can't hammer the biggest HR offenders so they go after "pliable" Western Governments

that are susceptible to media, publicity and public opinion !!! LOL

 

 

 

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Couldn't agree more, we only have to see the hypocritical Jillian Triggs of the HRC here in Australia to see they are only out to attack western conservative governments.

Never heard a peep out of her when Rudd/Gillard/Rudd were drowning thousands at sea, had thousands of children in detention and every week more and more came to be detained or worse.

A bit off topic but in the same vein as the mealy mouthed wording about corporate responsibility.

well ppl obviously aren't buying enough "Trex© plastic decking and outdoor chairs, among numerous other things" to make a much of a difference in the amount of plastic garbage are they? Besides, you see a lot of plastic outdoor setting chairs and tables in landfill too.

That's not the responsibility of beverage producers to root around in land fills........it's the ignorance of the great-unwashed that results in such problems.  Would you be so quick to buy a 2-liter bottle of soda if there was an additional $1 price tag because the bottle used twice as much plastic so it could be reused?

This is the same problem lumber companies faced in the 60's..........there was so much wood waste, they built wigwam burners to consume it, creating environmental problems on top of the wastage........then they started devising uses for the sawdust and chips...........today we have fiberboard, oriented-strand board, particleboard, MDF (coincidentally, first manufactured in my home town)......the wigwam  burners are nothing but a curiosity now........  I can take my yard debris, branches, broken wood furniture, and the ilk to Bio-Mass, where it is burned to produce electricity, the little ash remaining converted to fertilizer.

Their is no point in recycling if we don't have the ability to recycle it.

And their is no point in recycling if it costs more to transport and recycle and / or is worse for the environment to recycle.

Which is why I say it needs to be a cradle to grave solution.

When I first moved into my house, the local council jumped on the recycle band wagon.

All well and good, except I caught he council tipping everything down the tip one day when

I was dumoing some rubbish.

I asked one of the tip workers, he said all the recycling stuff gets dumped there.

The whole thing was for a "feel good" factor.

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@icyfroth wrote:

back in ancient times (1960s) I remember my older brother had a little trolley to pull around picking up glass coke bottles:

 

 

I think he'd get 3pence per bottle.

 

Coca Cola used to wash them, sterilise them and reuse them. Same with milk bottles. You used to get 6pence for milk bottles. People used to leave them out on the front step for the milkman and they'd often get stolen. They certainly didn't litter the streets and waterways like the plastic bottles do now.

 

I think companies that use plastic containers to market their product should find a way to make similarly reusable containers.

 

Now I have to go be back later."

 

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 I wanted to post a link re. plastic containers and cancer. Two attempts a fail, so I wandered off. lol

 

I grew up in a very small fly spot on the map, a pub,a general store and a school. The kids used to go around the back of the store, pinch the returned bottles out of the crates, take them around the front and reclaim the money. Poor old storekeeper took a loooooong while to catch on. 🙂