What if there was resurgence of the Glass Soda Bottle

[RC kid]

  Lately I have been watching a lot of news coverage on recycling and going green etc...and it made think back to my days working for a local Coca-Cola bottler in Texas. I began working there in the last days of the old bottles, when 6oz, 12oz and 32oz bottles were distributed and the empty bottles were picked up for refill. That is, until they were picked up for the last time and destroyed.
   Which makes me think, why not return to the returnable bottles. This would reduce the amount of plastic being used and the bottles would be reusable for years.
   I remember filling the CS-64 and CS-96 bottle machines in the small stores that still had them around. I would pull all of the older bottles and keep them for my collection. I only kept them if they were full of product. I don't know why, I just thought they were cool. That when most of my friends collected empty beer containers. We seemed to have every flavor too. Heck, I kept five to ten cases of bottled soda in the garage so I could keep my Coke machine full.
  I have a hard time believing we can't go back to that system. But I know the cans take up less room and the newer machines hold hundreds of cans opposed to the mere numbers held by the older bottle machines.
  You know...I also remember when the machine bone yard, full old cs-64 and Cs-96 machines was sent to the scrap yard. The guys responsible for this had to stand by and ensure every machine was destroyed. A bull dozer ran over them repeatedly, making them all but unrecognizable.
   I bought a couple of machines from the company several months before the order was given to destroy them. I bought them at an employee discount ($75.00) and then I would collect all of the parts needed to ensure they would be complete and presentable, they made really nice garage machines for me and my friends to use to keep the beer cold.
   I also got great deals on the machines left in the stores. After the bottles were discontinued most owners needed their now obsolete machine gone. I would reluctantly pay out twenty-five to fifty dollars and haul them home.
   At that time the craze was in full swing for the really old machines and I couldn't find any in my price range, well, until I found my old RC 110. Any really old machines that came into the company bone yard were quickly bought up by the senior staff and restored for their offices and homes.
   Just my nostalgia...anyway, why not bring back the bottles. It worked in the past, and it is currently being used in mexico and most of the continent of Africa.
    What are your thoughts?

[Larry]

I like glass over plastic any day.  It would make sense to do bottles if recyling was a common practice everywhere, but that wont happen.  They would have to charge deposits like the old days and then you would have to haul your old bottles back to the store, which I don't regret not doing anymore.  I hated it then, and I'm sure I would hate it know.  I was happy with the cans because they stack up nice in the fridge and crush easily in the trash, yes trash, not recycle bin.

However, I wouldn't mind paying extra for the deposit, and I'm sure if I left the bottles outside my house, I wouldn't have to haul them back to the store because some kid would be more than happy to steal them and bring them back for a deposit.  I know I use to.  The quarts were the best score, 15c, a few bubs daddy's could be bought with that.

I vote yes for bringing back bottles, but we still need cans too.  Plastic is unbreakable, it's only redeeming quality.  Get rid of the plastic.

[MoonDawg]

       Picked these up at our local Cost Plus store here in California. The bottles are
nice and the box is pretty cool looking too

[Sodak Bob]

Glen - We have the same soda here, but it contains Bubble Up, Nesbitt's Orange, Nu-Grape, and Dad's Root Beer...   Not bad priced either...

[MCarter]

I  can find Dad's Root beer in 4 packs & Bubble up , Frostie, Big red , Double cola and grape  nehi in cans

[halehouse]

Glen - We have the same soda here, but it contains Bubble Up, Nesbitt's Orange, Nu-Grape, and Dad's Root Beer...   Not bad priced either...

I bought a case of each at World Market a week or two ago. It was just under $10 for the case of 12.

[rugrunner]

Nothing better then a 12 oz bottle of coke pulled from a bucket of ice.

They still bottle it that way at the coke plant in Winona (mn) a few hours south of me. Read a newspaper story a few years ago about a lady that comes from Ohio once a year and buys a years supply.

As far as a national change back to bottles I'd vote for it but it won"t happen. The green movement isn't really about being green it's about controlling people's behavior (IMHO).

Maybe I need to make a trip to Winona and check it out myself.

Good post RCkid, makes ya think.

[Jimbo]

I just went to Winona last Monday to stock up for the rest of the year:

[BrianB]

That's an inspiring picture! I love glass bottled soda pop and would gladly vote "yes" to bring them back! 

[rugrunner]

Jimbo, did you have to bring in empty bottles?

found this site while googling Winona and coca cola:

http://www.glassbottlesoda.org/index.shtml