I would recommend Jane Busch' article on the subject: "Second Time Around: A
Look at Bottle Reuse" published in Hist. Arch., Vol. 21, pp. 67-80 (1987).

Allen Vegotsky
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-----Original Message-----
From: Robert L. Schuyler <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 1:49 PM
Subject: Formal Reuse of Bottles (?)


>Does anyone on the list know of PUBLISHED sources, or unpublished papers,
>on the history and nature of the formal reuse of glass bottles? I am
>referring to the practice in the 20th century (19th century?) when bottles
>were systematically returned to the store or other original source. The two
>major categories I am familiar with are:
>
>(1) Soda bottles which were purchased (with part of the price considered
>a deposit) and then returned for money. This was a way many children
>made pocket money, especially with Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola bottles.
>
>(2) Milk bottles which were left out to be picked up by the milkman
>(sorry, I do not remember any milkwomen!) to be taken back to the local
>dairy to be refilled.
>
>Some questions:
>
>        (1) Are there other obvious categories beyond the two I listed
above?
>
>        (2) When did such practices start?
>
>        (3) When did they end (if they have ended)?
>
>        (4) When did the phrase - "No Deposit No Return" - come into
>use?
>
>        Such practices have a major impact on the archaeological record
>of the 20th (19th?) century. For example, in recent excavations of 20th
>century deposits we found only one Coca Cola bottle and it was there
>because it had been broken.
>
>        I am after published (or at least formally written up) sources,
>either primary sources or work by researchers such as archaeologists,
>material culture experts or cultural historians. I would also be
>interested in personal knowledge you may have. You could either send
>such personal accounts to me off line or, if you want, share them with
>the list. This question would, I think, be of interert to many historical
>archaeologists.
>
>                                        Robert L. Schuyler
>
>
>
>Robert L. Schuyler
>University of Pennsylvania Museum
>33rd & Spruce Streets
>Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324
>
>Tel: (215) 898-6965
>Fax: (215) 898-0657
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