Up until the mid-1970s in the US, sodas were often sold in eight-packs of thick glass pint* bottles, returnable for deposit at the store. The delivery trucks pi

Up until the mid-1970s in the US, sodas were often sold in eight-packs of thick glass pint* bottles, returnable for deposit at the store. The delivery trucks picked up the returned bottles and took them to the bottling plant, where they were washed and reused. Coca-Cola bottles were famous for being stamped on the bottom with their originating bottling plant. Then came the thin-wall non-returnable glass bottles, followed quickly by plastic. I don't think it was an improvement. * US pint = 16 fl. oz. = 473.2 ml