4 ms·

This reusable beer bottle could change the way America drinks

9 points by benryon 8y ago

jvandonsel 8y ago
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.
- grzm 8y ago
  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.
malloryerik 8y ago
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.
- enra 8y ago
  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.
exabrial 8y ago
If you home brew, all beer bottles are recyclable
RileyJames 8y ago
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.
- justtopost 8y ago
  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.
justtopost 8y ago
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.
- sithadmin 8y ago
  >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.

9 points by benryon 8y ago

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.

grzm 8y ago
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.

malloryerik 8y ago

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.

enra 8y ago
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.

exabrial 8y ago

If you home brew, all beer bottles are recyclable

RileyJames 8y ago

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.

justtopost 8y ago
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.

justtopost 8y ago

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.

sithadmin 8y ago
>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.