Recycling: Why don't they bring back deposits on glass bottles?

[CountessDracula]

Anyone as ancient as myself will remember the excitement of finding a few glass bottles and legging it to the shop to get 3p back on each then spending your proceeds on vast quanties of 4 for a penny chews

Why on earth don't they bring this back? Get rid of all this plastic that they put milk and fizzy drinks in. They could then be sent back and re-used like in the olden days, no need to even melt them down or whatever they do.

And they ALWAYS find their way back to the shop as kids will always take them back for the pennies

I think it's a great idea. Though I'm sure you'll hear cries about the "carbon cost" of transporting the weight of glass over plastic, "heath and safety issues" and what have you.

Would love to see the local Tesco Metro overrun with kids though.

Personally think supermarkets should be banned from pre-packing fruit into plastic boxes as well.

my milk comes in glass bottles from teh milkman

that reminds me - must put the empties out

And shampoo should all be in one shaped glass returnable bottle, conditioner, etc etc.
If only.

Haven't seen a milkman in yonks. Must see if I can find one that delivers in our area.

well they have to transport the stuff to the shops, then go back with an empty lorry
I bet it doesn't cost that much more to take the empties back

70% of glass bottles still end up in landfill

I don't know why they don't.It seems a no brainer.Also,in the US I rarely saw used drinkcans littering the pavements,as they could be recycled for cash too.

I think those who make the decisions cite hygiene issues.Have they never heard of hot water?

Your original question was something I was wondering only yesterday.

Apparently in Germany they still have deposits on bottles.

We had a hol in Sweden in 2002 and I was thrilled to discover that they have deposits on all drinks containers (you can only buy weak beer in the supermarket mind you, I don't know how the liquor warehouse places work but assume they are the same). Bottles and cans are barcoded, the supermarkets have a recycling machine, you take your empties every time you go and put them in the machine which reads the barcode and gives you a paper coupon to use at the checkout - dead simple, although it does mean the supermarkets need to have fairly vast storage facilities.

Anyway I wrote to my MP when we got home saying what a great scheme, why can't we do that, and he wrote to either or both of M Meaker and M Beckett - I forget now who was in what post - and eventually I got the usual fob-off "we are considering all options".

Yeah, right

Meacher, not Meaker

Er...they still do. My DS took two bottles back to the shop on Sunday and got 30p each, which he promptly spent on football stickers.