Again, The Past Needs To Be The Future
There is nothing better than a Coca-Cola or beer in a glass bottle. Period. In the Philippines, 59 percent of beverages are sold in refillable glass...the highest percentage in the world. Way to go Philippines. We need to do the same and follow their lead. In the U.S. the numbers are so dismal, it is an embarrassment. I always enjoy the idea that instead of going to the landfill, my bottle is going back to be reused. Every time we go to the Philippines, I admire the vast industry around reusing glass beverage containers. Next time, it would be interesting to visit a bottling plant to see how bottles are prepared for reuse and refilled or discarded and what happens after that. I can remember in my youth, one could still buy refillable bottles and return them. Why this ended is a great question.
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| Every store in the Philippines has crates of full and empty bottles out front. |
Refillable glass is our past and we used to be a leader. Like railroads, this is another example of infrastructure we had in the past and discarded. In the case of railroads, it was in favor of the car, while for refillable glass beverage containers, which dominated and declined just like the railroads through the 50s and 60s and 70s, it was plastic and cans. Steel and aluminum cans have always been one of the best recycling stories, but there is still a lot of energy that goes into doing that. Refillable glass uses 57 percent less energy than aluminium, 70 percent less than plastic and can be reused up to 50 times. Since the manager of the Coke warehouse in the Philippines told me bottles lasted 6 times, I'd like to learn more about why there is such a disparity.
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| The glass Coke and Fanta bottles are filled with sugar cane vinegar, (suka) a common form of reuse in the Philippines. |
As plastic waste and toxicity becomes more of a problem, again, we need to look to the past for solutions. Again, we need to rebuild infrastructure that was once the best in the world. There is a case to be made that not only will it reduce waste, pollution, carbon emissions and toxic plastic, but it will save consumers money while creating new jobs in bottling....again. People will say it is too hard but many other countries with far less of the advantages of America are doing it.
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