I’ve noticed that there are very, very few brands of beer that are still sold in deposit bottles anymore. Here in Milwaukee I’ve noticed only Blue Ribbon, Blatz, Old Milwaukee, and Lienenkugals in return cases. My questions are:
Why does anyone still buy beer in deposit bottle form? It’s such a pain in the arsh to lug those cases to and from the store. The beer taste the same in throw aways, and it costs the same. Plus, with deposit bottles you have to have a bottle opener handy to drink one.
*Why did the industry get away from the deposit bottle concept? Wouldn’t it be better for the envorment if more beverages came in glass deposit bottles rather than throw aways?
Just a note: In Wisconsin we do not pay a deposit on cans or “throw away” bottles, only on beer that comes in 24 bottle deposit cases.
Here in Massachusetts, there’s no such thing as a “throw-away.” Well, I guess you could throw them away, but you’ve paid the five cents, so you might as well cash them in. All beer is sold here in deposit bottles–Bud, Miller, Pabst, Coors, Sam Adams–all of them have a five cent deposit. So I guess you question is sort of a local one.
The original bottle deposits were a way for the breweries to save money. It was cheaper to wash bottles than to buy new ones.
Around 1960 (not sure of the exact year), the breweries (and soft drink distributors) latched on to a method to produce bottles more cheaply and they decided to abandon deposits, advertising the convenience of just tossing the bottle, rather than lugging it back to the store. By the end of the 60s, there were no large, national distributors that still had deposit bottles. This lasted about ten years. Toward the end of the 70s, various groups began to push for a return to deposit bottles and several states adopted laws requiring deposits. (You can find those states by looking at the label on your bottle and noting all the state postal codes next to the 5¢ (with 10¢ next to MI).) (At 30¢ or 60¢ a six-pack, a serious drinker has a certain amount of incentive to return the bottles, so in states where deposits are mandated, there is a fairly high rate of recycling.)
The debate has never been resolved. Opponents point out that it is a burden on retailers who have to provide space and manpower to process the returns. They also note that someone could use a bottle to store a lethal toxin that the scrubbing process may fail to remove–although I am not aware of any incidents of death or injury from a poorly washed bottle in the 20 years since they returned. Proponents point out the good aspects of recycling. There are also anecdotal reports of cleaner highway shoulders and medians (that are safer for mowers) with the speculation that people who are hanging on to their empty bottles instead of hurling them from the window tend to hang onto their food bags and boxes, as well. I know of no studies to support the anecdotes.
Only 10 states currently have bottle-deposit laws*: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. Your state, Wisconsin, isn’t one of them.
About 6 years ago, I had a brief contract with Coca-Cola of Northern New England. I learned that it would be very bad business for bottlers to distribute returnable bottles in non-deposit states. I had to be very careful that their distribution system wouldn’t accidently route cans and bottles to the wrong states. It irritates those states with deposit laws because they thay have to return money to the redeemer when no initial deposit was made by the consumer.
These types of programs are outdated with the advent of modern recycling programs, but they persist in some places because state governement are addicted to the additional revenue.
They used to do it in Texas. The dark colored long neck bottles were all the same for domestic brands. Bars collected the empties and returned them to the distributer. The labels would be removed, the bottles cleaned and reused.
Then the beer companies switched to bottles with twist off caps. Those were/are all throw away.
Some states have deposits but the bottles are crushed and the glass is recycled. The bottles are no longer reused.
You can also get Miller and Budweiser products in returnable bottles in the Milwaukee area. I have a part time job at Otto’s and we have them. The price is slightly less, something like .50 less on 24 bottles of Miller Lite as opposed to buying 2 12 packs. I guess the bottles are a little nicer too (they’re a bit thicker), but like you said the beer tastes the same.
At Otto’s, we do sell our fair share of returnable bottles (at least more than I would have expected we would). It seems like most of the customers buying the returnables are older, and have probably been buying returnables for years and years, but we also have a few younger custormers buying them.
In Europe the return deposit bottles are very widely used. Maybe because environmental issues are considered more important here than in the US. I think it’s a good idea and it works fine too.
Deposit is used to cans,glass botles and plastic bottles. Not very much else than water bottles is sold as throw-away.
You have a cite for this that doesn’t include references to Kyoto, right?
There is an excellent discussion of the differences between Deposit Laws and curbside recycling at the National Council for Science and the Environment: Bottle Bills and Curbside Recycling: Are They Compatible?. Among the arguments for phasing out deposit Laws in favor of curbside recycling are:
Reduced costs to the bottler
Deposit Laws remove the most valuable scrap material from curbside recycling, reducing revenue for the local recycling program by as much as 75%.
More recyclable can be collected in local programs with at lower cost to the consumer.
According to the source, states fare better economically with Deposit Laws, but have the effects of increasing collection costs, removing valuable materials from local recycyling, andinterfering with the recycling industry. Although there are arguments on both sides, economics seems to win out. The bottlers win, the consumers win, and the local governments win. Oh yeah, and waste gets recycled.
Does anybody still do curbside recycling of glass? I thought it had fallen out of favor as people realized that hauling used bottles to the glassworks costs more and uses more energy than hauling them to the dump and hauling sand to the glass works.
Since these programs are run by local communities, it must vary by the cost incurred by the city or town. Where I live (a city of approximately 100,000 people in Northern New England), glass is added to the curbside bin along with plastic and aluminum. Paper is separate.
At my apartment complex (in the rather progressive county of Montgomery in the very liberal State of Maryland) we have a big catch-all bin for recycling plastics, metals (like aluminum soda cans), and yes, glass, too. It’s neat not having to separate it. I’m green and I’m lazy.
I’m pleased to report that in South Australia we have never shied away from container deposit legislation, despite strong pressure from external interests who regard profit margins as much more important than environmental concerns.
Kerbside recycling is also extremely strong in this state, over a variety of materials. These include newspaper, cardboard, certain plastics, glass and metals. This ensures that the areas we have to use as landfill for disposal of trash last a great deal longer.
We don’t have curbside recycling of glass, but we do recycle glass still. It’s supposed to be taken to neighborhood recycling points.
We also have deposits on almost all beverage containers, including plastic, glass and aluminum cans. The plastic bottles here are made of much thicker plastic than in the States, and they can be washed and reused many times just as glass bottles are.
I’m in Michigan, where the return is 10 cents per bottle or can, the highest return in the nation.
It actually adds up. You usually take your returnables back when they start cluttering things up in your utility room or whatever, and you’ll get like $10 to $20 – enough to buy more beer, and continue the vital cycle of nature.
I can also remember as a kid when broken bottles and cans were one of the primary pollutants along roadways. Now that’s almost nonexistant here.
My question is, on some of the returnables, I think for California, it says “redemption value.” Why? Doesn’t that go without saying? Somebody will take your glass or plastic or aluminum and give you a little something.
At most supermarkets in The Netherlands there are machines where you drop your bottles in and you get back your deposit. Here in the UK there is a landfill tax , which gets bigger every year, that is an incentive to re-cycle not only glass but plastic, paper etc. Also we are running out of places to dump things and people do not seem to want incinerators near their homes.
I own a grocery store in Oregon, which has a deposit law.
This was instituted by Governor Tom McCall, back in the 1970’s. It was the first bottle bill introduced into the United States.
It does reduce highway/byway litter, as economically challenged persons will pick up containers for the 5-cent redemption value. Any carbonated beverage in Oregon, will have a deposit on the container. Regardless of glass, aluminum, or plastic.
However, I have a smallish store. And a full 25% of my total square footage is dedicated to holding deposit containers. I have to pay employees to sort and count bottle returns, and the insect problems indemic to sweet/sticky beverage bottles cost me more in terms of pest control.
It is also irksome to have a ‘customer’ bring in $10.00 worth of assorted containers; which can take a clerk nearly half an hour to sort out into the proper containers, and take that sweet $10.00 out of the store to spend elsewhere.
It places me, as a retailer, in the position of being a free ATM machine. Not only do I have to dispense cash to you, but it costs me real money to deal with the mess that you have lain at my door.
The self-serve machines at the front of stores are very nice, but they cost thousands of dollars to purchase. So they are out of the realm for small retailers such as myself. I would like to see some sort of tax rebate given to recycling retailers to help defray the cost of keeping the environment neat and tidy.
Don’t get me started on the fact that I have to hire someone to clean my parking lots every day. Those McDonald’s and Burger King wrappers and cups really add up…how about putting a deposit on fast food wrappers?
It seems obvious that deposit laws make sense as a way to keep the roadside tidy even when they make no sense from a conservation point of view. But recyclable bottles are a pain for the retailer to deal with. This pain is much lessened in those countries where there are fewer kinds of bottles. If, for example, there was only one kind of 750 cc beer bottle, used by all beer bottlers, then sorting and storage problems would be significantly reduced. Why not here in the U.S.?
Marketing. A significant factor in your subconscious decision to pruchase one beverage over another is the size and shape of the container. Next time you’re int he store, look at the rows upon rows of bottles and see which ones grab your attention, particuarly the juices and iced teas.
Indeed - I live in Columbia, MO, which AFAIK is the only municipality in the United States with its own deposit law (the rest of Missouri has no such laws).
This causes all sorts of grief for the local grocery stores when it comes to redemption - all beverage bottles sold in the city are supposed to have an orange “COLUMBIA” sticker on them for this purpose, but the stickers frequently come off. And then there’s several large retailers just outside the city limits who don’t have to charge the deposit, but the less scrupulous feel free to try and redeem their bottles for cash anyway.
All in all, it’s quite a headache, and though I favor recycling I’m puzzled why the city sticks with it. Especially when we have curbside recycling.
Would it be possible to make a decent profit by buying bottles in non-deposit state say IL and returning them in MI.
Also people often forget about city people in NYC and Chicago etc.
It is very difficult to do your shopping and LUG home bottle much less lug them back.
I mean I even pay TWICE as much for bleach from my neighborhood ma and pop store, rather than lug it on an EL and A BUS home from the regular supermarket.
Not only would I never return a bottle but I would probably smash it out of frustration.
There is a psychological thing about it. Like where I work meals were free, now they are $2.00. Certainly not bad but since it is all you can eat (same as when it was free) I noticed people now take EVERYTHING they can and dump more of it without eating it. Thus destroying the point.
