# Why were disposable items of the past so heavy-duty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338 "2010-12-25T04:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/21 "2010-12-27T17:52:25Z")
When peanut butter started coming in plastic jars, rather than glass, I did mourn the loss of those large jars. Until I dropped one on the floor. Then I reflected that all I had to do was pick up the jar in one swift easy movement, with no hazards, rather than trying to clean up an unOgly mess of glass splinters and peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/22 "2010-12-28T10:36:04Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I recall when I was a kid you’d get a small jar of jelly and it was in a real glass, that when you were done with the jelly, you had a glass. Not a jar that could be used as a glass, but a jar that looked just like a glass you’d buy. Ah, yes. Our milk glasses were all empty jelly jars (with assorted flower patterns) when I was a kid. That brand of jelly switched to jars that couldn’t easily be reused as glasses sometime in the mid-'70s, and just about the same time that we had broken enough that we needed new ones, well, that’s when Burger King had the original Star Wars glasses, see… 😃 A blog called [Roasted Peanuts,](http://peanutsroasted.blogspot.com/) which discusses very old Peanuts comic strips, recently had a post on [this strip about potato chips.](http://peanutsroasted.blogspot.com/) Several commenters mentioned how wasteful it was to package the chips in a metal can - but my memory tells me that those cans were meant to be reused. You either took the can back to the factory store where they refilled it with fresh chips, or you bought a waxed-paper bag of chips just the right size to fill the can. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/23 "2010-12-28T10:59:28Z")
Does anyone have memories of glass shampoo bottles? My oldest memories contain only plastic for shampoo, but I suppose there must have been a time when they were glass. I’d imagine that shampoo must have been among the very first products to switch to plastic, glass being a very dangerous thing to have in a shower or bathtub. But I really don’t know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/24 "2010-12-28T11:42:39Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Does anyone have memories of glass shampoo bottles? My oldest memories contain only plastic for shampoo, but I suppose there must have been a time when they were glass. I’d imagine that shampoo must have been among the very first products to switch to plastic, glass being a very dangerous thing to have in a shower or bathtub. But I really don’t know for sure. When you said that, I remembered one of my grade school gym teachers (late '70s) emphasizing to us NO GLASS shampoo bottles or deodorant containers in the locker room. I remember that roll-on deodorant often had a glass outer shell, but I don’t remember using a glass shampoo bottle - yet they must still have been around if the teacher was so concerned about them. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/25 "2010-12-28T11:51:13Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Does anyone have memories of glass shampoo bottles? Yes. And I can show you the scar across the heel of my hand that’s there to remind me. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/26 "2010-12-28T12:38:34Z")
So… when was that? When did they start switching over? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/27 "2010-12-28T13:13:30Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Everything everyone has written makes a lot of sense to me. But the Band-Aids examples blows them all away. The era of metal Band-Aid boxes overlaps the era of cardboard breakfast cereal boxes by _decades_. How is it that they had the technology for paper cereal boxes for so long, but not for band-aid boxes? Cereal boxes are designed to last a couple weeks, at most. A box of band-aids takes a year or more to get through. What is perfectly adequate strength/durability for a cereal box might not be good enough for a band-aid box. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/28 "2010-12-28T13:43:03Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Cereal boxes are designed to last a couple weeks, at most. A box of band-aids takes a year or more to get through. What is perfectly adequate strength/durability for a cereal box might not be good enough for a band-aid box. Good point. And I wonder if some of it was to provide a moisture proof environment for Band-Aids, more likely to be stored in a damp bathroom than a pantry or kitchen cupboard. Now, the individual wrappers are fairly damp resistant, so you can get away with the light cardboard box, but I seem to remember the ones when I was a kid being more papery with no coating to speak of. A metal box would help keep the damp out. And I final hypothesis which I think has been missed: consumer expectation. Especially in the last 15 years, the move has been to Green everything. How many products have “now with 30% less packaging!” or similar claims? It’s not just cheaper for them to make containers lighter and thinner, it’s an actual \*selling \*point. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/29 "2010-12-28T13:58:01Z")
All this is well and good, but how am I supposed to keep all my assorted nuts, bolts, screws stored on my garage shelves in those little Keurig capsules? This crisis needs to be solved ASAP! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/30 "2010-12-28T16:23:33Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Does anyone have memories of glass shampoo bottles? My oldest memories contain only plastic for shampoo, but I suppose there must have been a time when they were glass. I’d imagine that shampoo must have been among the very first products to switch to plastic, glass being a very dangerous thing to have in a shower or bathtub. But I really don’t know for sure. I seem to recall that Prell stayed with glass bottles longer than other brands. I think Prell was available in glass bottles into the 1970s, but I may be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/31 "2010-12-28T17:24:21Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And I final hypothesis which I think has been missed: consumer expectation. Especially in the last 15 years, the move has been to Green everything. How many products have “now with 30% less packaging!” or similar claims? It’s not just cheaper for them to make containers lighter and thinner, it’s an actual \*selling \*point. I feel like you have that a bit backwards. They cut down on the packaging \*because \*it saves them money; they then \*market \*the new packaging to consumers as “going green” rather than “saving the company money and increasing their profits.” If the motivation were really environmentalism instead of profits, they’d also be making changes that result in higher costs for them, which we generally don’t see. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/32 "2010-12-28T18:38:55Z")
Interesting - I’m old enough (44) to remember metal Band-Aid tins (and metal toothpaste tubes with a “key” to roll them up), but have no recollection at all of glass shampoo bottles. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/33 "2010-12-28T18:46:03Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Does anyone have memories of glass shampoo bottles? Yup. My mom used shampoo that was in glass bottles. They were quite small, too; about the size of a Johnson’s Baby Shampoo bottle. IIRC, shampoo bottles in general in the 1970s were much smaller than today. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/34 "2010-12-28T18:52:41Z")
Digital cameras killed the Kodak 35mm film canister. Those things were great for storing all kinds of goodies. You didn’t need to buy them just for storage, they were a bonus from when you took your film in to be developed. Those little containers are very durable, some of mine that I still use are over three decades old. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/35 "2010-12-28T19:01:59Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Digital cameras killed the Kodak 35mm film canister. Those things were great for storing all kinds of goodies. I use the tinted brown plastics from my prescription pills. About the same size, and you can see through them! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/36 "2010-12-28T19:46:01Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > When you said that, I remembered one of my grade school gym teachers (late '70s) emphasizing to us NO GLASS shampoo bottles or deodorant containers in the locker room. I remember that roll-on deodorant often had a glass outer shell, but I don’t remember using a glass shampoo bottle - yet they must still have been around if the teacher was so concerned about them. I recall a commercial for Alberto Culver VO5 shampoo, from the late '60s. The actress was in the shower with a head full of lather, extolling the virtues of the shampoo, and she dropped the bottle a couple of times, then bent down out of view to pick it up. The second time she did this, the realization dawned on her: “It didn’t break. It didn’t _BREAK_!” ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/37 "2010-12-28T19:51:08Z")
Yea, I am going to have to say this has sometimes gone too far. Have any of you used the “eco-friendly” bottled water? The caps are not as tall so it is hard to grip them. The bottle body plastic is so thin that as soon as you pop off the top, water comes shooting out of it (because you are trying to hold onto the bottle to get the top off). Ironically, it has made bottle re-use harder. Usually i buy a bottled water when I find myself in a pinch, but I use it 5-10 times after that by filling it with tap water. The newer thinner ones practically crush after 1-2 uses. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/38 "2010-12-28T19:51:21Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Interesting - I’m old enough (44) to remember metal Band-Aid tins (and metal toothpaste tubes with a “key” to roll them up), but have no recollection at all of glass shampoo bottles. I’m older than you by ten years, but it occurs to me that I never used shampoo in a glass bottle, either. Up until my teen years, my hair-washing was done in the bathtub, with the same bar of soap I’d been using on the rest of me. By the time I graduated to showers and shampoo, it was Prell concentrated shampoo in the oversize plastic tube. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/39 "2010-12-28T20:47:25Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I’m old enough (44) to remember metal Band-Aid tins Hell, I’m \*27 \*and I remember metal Band-Aid tins. Of course, the question is: am I remembering a tin that was purchased while I was alive, or am I remembering a tin that was purchased before my birth and refilled from the carboard boxes? (WTB pensive smiley.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338/40 "2010-12-28T20:56:48Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I recall a commercial for Alberto Culver VO5 shampoo, from the late '60s. The actress was in the shower with a head full of lather, extolling the virtues of the shampoo, and she dropped the bottle a couple of times, then bent down out of view to pick it up. The second time she did this, the realization dawned on her: > > “It didn’t break. It didn’t _BREAK_!” Oh god, can you imagine? “Wow, my wet slippery shower is now full of broken glass!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-disposable-items-of-the-past-so-heavy-duty/565338.md?page=3)