Back to the Future: Reusing Soda Bottles is not a new idea, and it's about time it came back to the USA

The cola companies are starting to spin a new idea: Reusing bottles. Coke and Pepsi are both jumping to figure out how to do this successfully.

Here's the rub: This isn't new; the USA used to know how to reuse our bottles.

I wish I had a photograph of my mother and I returning our large, glass soda bottles (RC) to the local market in Frederick, MD. Returning soda bottles for cleaning and refilling was the norm in the 1970s in the United States and there was a whole network/system in place to pickup, clean and refill these bottles. 

Then this entire network to reuse bottles was dismantled, leaving us with a throw-away economy.

There are a handful of articles out there, talking about this change, and they just don't capture the tragedy of the situation. We HAD this figured out; the structure was in place to support this. People had jobs doing this important work. Now it all has to be restarted. But I guess better now than never.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90721672/refillable-soda-bottles-coca-cola

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/a-pocket-history-of-bottle-recycling/273575/

https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/nature-and-environment/bottle-bills-zmaz78jazbur/