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The current German system is nothing compared to the former East German bottle reuse system. Disclaimer: I grew up in East Germany, and during a summer break wh
by nosianu 7y ago
The current German system is nothing compared to the former East German bottle reuse system. Disclaimer: I grew up in East Germany, and during a summer break when I still was at school I worked in a small local brewery in the bottling facility at various machines for a few weeks, seeing the system in action.
In East Germany we only had very few bottle designs that were used throughout the entire country and all firms filling something in bottles used those designs. You could return a bottle filled with beer in the north of the country by one company and return it in the south and refill it with lemonade.
When I worked in the brewery we had trucks carrying returned glass bottles coming in, several per day. The labels on those bottles did not matter at all, only the form of the bottle did. They were sent through the washing machine, followed by a visual inspection station (today that would be automated, back then somebody had to sit there and watch endless streams of bottles pass in front of a bright white light source).
New bottles were fed into this system maybe 5% of the total nr. of bottles, maximum. The bulk of the bottles we filled had just been collected from all other the "Kreis" (county) that or the previous day.
There was slightly more variety for bottles with spirits, but non-alcoholic beverages and beer all had a handful of generic designs only:
- https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8a/2a/16/8a2a16b9573f33af14e1ee74428dd9e1.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8a/2a/16/8a2a16b9573f33af14e1...
- https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/283478094305_/DDR-Flasche-Bier-VEB-K%C3%96STRITZER-SCHWARZBIERBRAUEREI-BAD-K%C3%96TZRITZ.jpg https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/283478094305_/DDR-Fl...
- https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TdAAAOSwy6hc0vzC/s-l400.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TdAAAOSwy6hc0vzC/s-l400.jpg
- https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/z/01kAAOSwoptdW8pU/$_59.JPG https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/z/01kAAOSwoptdW8pU/$...
The current German system has all kinds of bottles and LOTS of restrictions. The labels have to match, I cannot return bottles unless the shop sells these exact bottles (including the brand). There were no restrictions in the GDR and only very few designs to deal with. There also were no plastic bottles and cans, or if we had any they were too few for me to even remember. Sure, that last one is confounded by time, there were not that many in the West in the 1980s either.
- detaro 7y agoThat sounds exactly like the current German system for beer bottles (although the range of beer bottle shapes has increased, so it's not as efficient anymore).
- nosianu 7y agoNo, it is not the same at all! We now have a lot of restrictions on what can be returned to what store. They have to sell those exact bottles. For the automated plastic return stations you even have to have the label still on the bottle - if the label doesn't match, even if the actual bottle is exactly the same, the machine does not accept the return. You can't return everything anywhere. In East Germany it worked for all bottles too, not just for beer bottles. The brewery where I worked also bottled various non-alcoholic drinks, suing the exact same bottles for all. The switch from one liquid to another didn't take long and was quickly performed, just restack different labels, flush the previous liquid, then restart the bottling with little overall delay. The bottles already in the queue remained the same. German: https://www.n-tv.de/ratgeber/Wo-kann-man-welche-Flasche-zurueckgeben-article19892185.html https://www.n-tv.de/ratgeber/Wo-kann-man-welche-Flasche-zuru... ("Inside the German bottle jungle: Where can you return which bottles?")
- detaro 7y agoTrue in regard to where you can return. But beer bottles are still distributed locally if possible, and not sent to whoever put the label on last.
- jotm 7y agoThat was the case across the USSR. Really impressive reuse of glass bottles. Nowadays even the cheapest food comes in glass jars, not sure how that came to be. Nothing seems to be reused...
- KozmoNau7 7y agoUnfortunately bottle shapes and designs are often seen as part of a brand identity, so any attempt to introduce standardized containers will be fought tooth and nail.
- 205guy 7y agoThus demonstrating that brand identity, advertising and marketing are all part of the problem.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoThere are no restrictions to returning in larger supermarkets, or the so called "Vollsortimenter" like Edeka, Rewe. Even Aldi(Nord) and Netto take everything. In fact, the only one being picky is Penny and Lidl. Maybe it's a regional thing? Or a function of size like upwards of XXX sqaure meters shopping space you are forced to take in everything?
- detaro 7y agoFor one-way returns (= stuff that's shredded locally and recycled as materials) stores over 200 m² have to take everything, but for reused bottles there is no such law.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoThat may be the case, but in practice i can go into a real,- and drop anything there. edit: same for the Rewe's i know. edit: err, and Kaufland.