How about this for a novel recycling idea?

Question

Make bottles from re-usable glass instead of plastic. Make a proportion of the purchase price a deposit for the glass bottle, say 20 pence. When you return the bottle to the retailer, you get 20 pence cash back, or 20 pence of the next bottle. Or you could save 5 bottles and let your child return them, and let them keep the £1.

Could this idea catch on?

Answer 1

This used to happen not that long ago- Corona fizzy drinks had a 10p deposit on them- recently in the Peak District I came across a fish and chip shop which had deposits on the drinks they sold... I don't know why it was ever scrapped!

Answer 2

I used to love taking the bottles back to the shop - used to pay for all our sweets when we went to visit my Grandma.

The main problem is that shops would have to store the empties - and with space at a premium it won't happen soon.

The other problem is that (from a financial point of view) it is cheaper to make a plastic bottle, than it is to clean a glass one.

Answer 3

sorry your idea went out of date many years ago, work out the costs,work out how much energy would be used. as a child after ww2 we used to collect bottles to earn pocket money.a tizer lorry delivered on wednesday had to drive slowly around a left had bend, we had a hook on a rope hanging from a oak tree, so we not only got fizzy drink for free but cash back on returns.then you must take into account how is the recyling to be carried out, if glass is billeted it still has to be mixed  with sand, if you wash these returns then plant plus running costs. so recycling is not easy. popa

Answer 4

That's already been tried, did NOT work, so was scrapped.

I would like to point out that some people do NOT drive and to get a bus or walk several miles to get to the nearest shop.

Answer 5

They've been doing this in the Netherlands and Germany for many years already. It makes perfect sense, you are absolutely right.

Answer 6

my dad ysed to recycle his bottles like this, it was 5p a bottle when I was young.

Actually not a novel recycling idea

Answer 7

South Australia has a 5 cent refund for bottles

Answer 8

It was very common in North America until the 1980s but it fell out of favour because consumers did not like it and it takes less energy and materials to manufacture new plastic containers than it took to collect, transport, inspect, clean and re-use glass bottles.  Also, the extra weight of the glass added to the energy used to transport the product.

Answer 9

down the road from me there is a farm where you can buy fresh milk. The milk comes in glass bottles and costs $2... the deposit is also $2. so you get $2 for returning a bottle. I used to look for those bottles (some people dont care about $2) some days I could make $30 just by walking down a road.

Answer 10

they still do this in tunisia and it is a great idea

Answer 11

plastic is just as reuseable as glass the consumer needs to push for it michigan has a bottle return law and all glass is crushed and recycled in to new glass same with plastic still almost 50% END UP IN THE TRASH  PEOPLE DONT WANT TO MESS WITH USED BOTTLES note it is illegal here to put returnable bottes in a land fill.

Answer 12

I like that idea!  I think people just need to be educated more about recycling too.  I read that Pepsi's campaign Have We Met Before is printing recycling information from the National Recycling Coalition on over 750 million cans to encourage people to recycle.  Hopefully everyone can jump on board and do their part.

Answer 13

Yeah, what everyone else above said...

And I would add this: The market (without government injecting it's usual element of force and coercion into the mix) will decide using, as a famous Englishman once explained, an "invisible hand" to gently push us toward the most logical and perfect solutions to all our problems, including those of environmental concern.

As was stated above, even though it appears on first blush that returnable bottles save energy and prevent landfills, the stark reality is quite different. Have you ever seen how glass is manufactured? Do you understand the enormous amount of heat required to turn silica into glass? And the chemicals that must be used and later disposed of are pretty horrible. Compare the melting temperature of silica verses the plastic used in pop bottles. This all doesn't even begin to touch on the huge quantities of water required to clean all those glass bottles and the energy required to be consumed therein.

The market has already solved that huge waste of resources by allowing the manufacture of cheaper plastic bottles.

I don't understand why you people believe that top-down micro-management is superior to freedom. How many times must the truth of the superiority of liberty be shown to you before you "get it"?

Why do you look upon wealth as such a bad thing? Without your nation's superior ability to create wealth, you'd all be still living in huts and cooking over open fires! And I'd have thought the 100 years of almost complete liberty (lack of gov't force in economics) in your colony off the south coast of China (Hong Kong) might have shown you what can be had if freedom is allowed to abound.

Answer 14

It is good from the side of recycling and makes an easily closed loop system.

However the increased transporting weight of the glass over plastic probably outweighs the advantages of recycling in this case. There needs to be greater industrial need for reuse of plastic and then we will have a better system.

Besides wasn't this the old system used by early lemonade companys and old british colonies?  :-P

Answer 15

I don't think that a return to the widespread use of glass would be a good idea at all.

Think of all the broken glass we would have on the roads, in the parks and on the beaches etc.

I do think that if an initial cost on all bottles, glass and plastic, and on all drinks cans was levied at around 10p each which was reclaimable from a centre near you it would be surprising how many would be returned.

Answer 16

the still have them in Scotland hooray for Barrs!

as a kid my 'pitch' was the local park, rich pickings there.

yes of course its a good system, it fell out of favour because non returnable plastic or glass was cheaper (especially savings in labour not having to return and wash out), not because it used less energy.

Answer 17

All bottles be it glass or plastic attracts a refund in South Australia

Retailer can no longer cope with people taking To back to the shops so its a weekend thing to pile them all up and go to the recyclers

Answer 18

catch on ? When i was a kid all bottles had a 20p deposit on them, when you took the bottle back then you got the deposit back. this idea has been about for years, retailers stopped using it because it took to much time organising it, but milk men use the same principle with the bottles, but the super markets used cartons,