The environmental movement seems to be gaining steam every day. Today's modern life is about tracking your carbon footprint, recycling, reusing, and learning new ways of living green. There used to be a common recycling practice when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's that went away and I don't know why.
It would be so helpful these days when so many people are concerned about our landfills and our throwaway culture. Two words...Refillable bottles.
Yes, when we drank all our soda pop or beer we took the bottles back to the store. We paid a deposit on the bottles. I remember collecting bottles from roadsides and vacant lots and turning them in. I think we got something like 3 cents a bottle. I remember throwing a case of empty beer bottles in the trunk of the car, driving to the beer drive-thru and trading the empty case for a full case of tasty, fresh beer. Presumably, the bottler took them back to the plant, washed them out and refilled them. There were no plastic bottles, they were all glass, and there were no disposable bottles.
I can't remember exactly when disposable bottles came on the market. I just remember how convenient it was to not have to take your bottles back. I remember some report about how it cost more to wash the bottles than to simply make a disposable bottle.
Now is the time to bring back the returnable bottle. If people want to be green, they'll gladly pay the extra few cents.