
This reusable beer bottle could change the way America drinks - benryon
https://www.fastcompany.com/90239092/this-reusable-beer-bottle-could-change-the-way-america-drinks
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malloryerik
I've not understood why we don't use standardized reusable packaging to reduce
waste and greenhouse gas emissions. There was an economic freedom argument in
the past, but the externalities are just proving too great to say that, you
know, my company needs its beer or sweet drink or water in a special one-time-
use, resource-intensive, air and ocean-polluting bottle. If every company has
to comply, market competition will be left unhampered (or perhaps improved as
firms would be pushed to compete more on product and less on brainwashing--
sorry I mean branding). I remember pleasantly gazing at the shape of a Perrier
bottle as a child. Nice, but not nice enough to warrant so many tons of
greenhouse gas emissions.

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enra
This is how it works in several countries in Europe, Nordics and Germany I
think.

Each grocery store has to have bottle recycler that scans and accepts only the
correct bottles and cans. Cans get crushed and bottles, including plastic
ones, get washed and recycled. You get 5-15cents store credit per bottle which
you then can buy things with or cash out. Most households recycle their
bottles while going to the grocery store.

As a student, this was great when you hosted parties and next morning you
would take the empties to the store and get like 15-40euros worth of credit.

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RileyJames
In India I noticed a lot of coke & sprite bottles were incredibly worn. They
were thicker and heavier than those in Australia (which were mostly plastic
anyway). And the branding was incorporated into the glass itself, as opposed
to a label on the outside.

Based on the wear, I imagine they’d been re-used many times. I thought it was
pretty cool that you bought coke in a bottle that would be considered an
antique in Australia.

Reusable items such as glass bottles give me a sense of quality & durability.
Where as disposable is synonymous with garbage.

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justtopost
The same is the case in many other places, Mexico comes to mind. The
disposable bottle seems a recent thing, only strengthened by semi-ignorant
ideas of how recycling works popularized in the 80s. But even modern bottles
can be reused many times as homebrewers know. Sam Addams specifically makes
theirs sturdier with that im mind.

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jvandonsel
I could be mis-remembering, but I'm pretty sure my that the cases of beer my
dad drank in the 1970's in Ohio came in recycled bottles. They were already
scratched up when he bought them.

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grzm
Very likely. Up until the past 10 years or so, you could pick up a case of
returnables. Very handy for those brewing at home. Can’t remember the last
time I saw them available.

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justtopost
They are 5 years late. Growlers are replacing beer bottles here, and are
reused 100s of times. Only the caps are disposed of, and even they could
likely be sanitized.

The problems faced in the article could easily be remedied by having uniform
mouth height and shoulder width, so bottling/washing machines can stay
brand/style agnostic while allowing some distinction.

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sithadmin
>Growlers are replacing beer bottles here

Growlers represent such a small portion of all beer sold in the US that they
are hardly worth mentioning. They are used nearly exclusively by enthusiast
consumers that are on the fringe of the beer drinking population, for purchase
volumes that are practically a rounding error in terms of total beer sales in
North America.

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exabrial
If you home brew, all beer bottles are recyclable

