why doesnt the us beer industry use returnable bottles like in europe?

[OutHouse]

Talk about waste, just imagine how many glass beer bottles got tossed in the trash on Sunday during the superbowl. I would love to see the returnable beer bottle system like they have in europe.

But it wont work because we are too fricken lazy to haul empties back to the store, but we are not too lazy to haul full bottles out of the store. :disgust:

 

[axelfox]

you answered your own question.

 

[Spencer278]

You mean like the 5 cents I get back when I turn in empty bottles?

 

[sygyzy]

Isn't that called "recycling"?

 

[tetricusii]

yeah and it costs a lot in energy to recycle the glass bottles we use in the states...

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Spencer278
You mean like the 5 cents I get back when I turn in empty bottles?

Still, a 24 returned would give you over a buck back. And it'll give some people incentive to return the bottles.

 

[Czar]

the US would love it

my uncle went to danmark with his class few years ago and they bought a case of beer, drank it, returned the bottles, added a little bit of extra money and bought another case, and beer in denmark is already dirt cheap

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Isn't that called "recycling"?

well sorta. the bottles get sent back to the company that made the beer and they get washed and cleaned and beer put back in it. they are not sent to a recycle plant to be crushed and made into something else.

once a beer bottle, always a beer bottle.

 

[Vic]

Many states have bottle return and deposit.

 

[Rogue]

The better question is, why don't they deliver beer to your house like they do in Germany. Now that's the real damn question that needs answered!

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: Spencer278
You mean like the 5 cents I get back when I turn in empty bottles?

Yup. Here in Oregon they are returnable. Many other places do that too I'm sure.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Czar
the US would love it

my uncle went to danmark with his class few years ago and they bought a case of beer, drank it, returned the bottles, added a little bit of extra money and bought another case, and beer in denmark is already dirt cheap

yea when you return the case and get another your get credit for the deposit on the new case.

 

[edmicman]

ummmmm don't a lot of states have a deposit program? we get 10 cents for each can or bottle....it adds up after a weekend of drinking 😛

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Rogue
The better question is, why don't they deliver beer to your house like they do in Germany. Now that's the real damn question that needs answered!

I've called cabs before to have them deliver beer.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

some places in US (notable the northeast) have deposits on their beer bottles and soda cans

from my limited experience, most people participate. and the ones that do throw them away just make work for the bums who rummage through the trash to find them to turn in

 

[Wuffsunie]

I know bottle returns exist in Ontario, at a rate of around $0.10/bottle. Can't speak for the rest of the country.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: tetricusii
yeah and it costs a lot in energy to recycle the glass bottles we use in the states...

It costs less to wash a bottle than to make a new one, and it costs less to recycle glass than to make new glass from the raw components. And that's before you get to the uses for ground glass made from scrap.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
I know bottle returns exist in Ontario, at a rate of around $0.10/bottle. Can't speak for the rest of the country.

that's like less than 1 cent in USD 😛

 

[Ketteringo]

$.10 bottle/can deposit in Michigan!

 

[GimpyOne]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: tetricusii
yeah and it costs a lot in energy to recycle the glass bottles we use in the states...

It costs less to wash a bottle than to make a new one, and it costs less to recycle glass than to make new glass from the raw components. And that's before you get to the uses for ground glass made from scrap.

This is completely correct. The only problem with beer bottle recylcling is that the brown color comes from FeS in the glass. It is a complete pain to try to maintain the brown color on reprocessing as the iron wants to change its oxidation state. It's even more difficult to get rid of the green you get from the iron left in there after it changes on you. So, it's not easy, but it takes roughly 1/3 the energy to melt glass cullet than the raw materials.

These are based on what I know of glass processing, industry may be doing things slightly different at this time.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

This was the norm when I was a teenager, but now it's all but unheard of. Too bad IMO.

 

[CPA]

most trash companies have sorting facilities that already do this. that is one reason why recycling isn't always mandated.

 

[Bootprint]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
I know bottle returns exist in Ontario, at a rate of around $0.10/bottle. Can't speak for the rest of the country.

That's why we ended up the stubbies bottles becoming history.

But every once in away, a company want's to have a different bottle and they get into a fight with the big brewers who run the beer store.