Reminds me of the Seinfield episode where Cramer and Newman collected a
delivery truck of returnable bottles and were planning to drive to
Michigan to get the deposit back only to loose them along the way.
Here in Kentucky there is a heated debate between the pop/soda bottlers
and politicians who want to start a bottle return program. There is a
problem with illegal dumping of litter in Eastern Kentucky and bottle
returns is seen as one way to encourage people to recycle instead of
throwing stuff out on the hillside. Kentucky even uses hidden cameras
to capture dumpers in the act ... go to
http://www.nr.state.ky.us/nrepc/dumpers/dumpphotos.htm to see what I
mean.
As a graduate student at Michigan State, my roommate and I always saved
and returned out returnable bottles (both metal and plastic, made up
mostly of empty beer bottles though ... go figure). But what was
interesting to watch were the people who collected cans left over by
tailgaters on MSU's campus following a home football game. They would
scour the grounds looking for discarded bottles, each with their own
territory. If I remember correctly the campus newspaper did a story on
one of them and how intense the competition was for the bottles and
cans.
howard
Howard Beverly
Senior GIS Specialist / Archaeologist
Wilbur Smith Associates
Lexington, Kentucky
[log in to unmask]
www.wilbursmith.com
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike
Harmon/R8/USDAFS
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 8:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Formal Reuse of Bottles (?)
John, your recollections of bottle reuse and childhood are very similar
to
mine in the rural south (Lexington, SC). Bob, none of this is written
up,
but you may find it of use.
Milk - My father kept a guernsey milk cow until the early 60's when the
county started requiring inspections. He simply didnt want to bother
w/the
inspection. He was always an independent soul. From that point on, we
bought milk at Mack's grocery in quart bottles that were dutifully
returned
each week for another round. The practice stopped when milk came in
cartons.
Soda - I rode many miles on a coaster bike w/half bushel basket tied to
the
handlebars w/baling twine, collecting discarded drink bottles so they
could
be sold for 1 1/2 or 2 cents each to the Mack brothers (price dependent
on
either Eli or Arthur's presence at the register). The brothers accepted
coke and pepsi products because those were the companies they
represented.
Beer - I dont recall any recycling of them. I do remember my first
sample
however!
Raleigh - We had the Watkins man (dont know if there is a connection
w/Watkinsville Ga.). Momma bought vanilla flavoring and whatever else
she
found suitable. Vanilla flavoring was used to make "Grandma Corley
milk."
He accepted empties, but I always wondered what became of them. The
salesman must have been well into his 60s. He stopped making his rounds
in
the late 1960s and I dont believe anyone replaced him.
Enough recollecting.
Michael A. Harmon
Natl. Forests in North Carolina
160A Zillicoa Street
PO Box 2750
Asheville, NC 28802
828-257-4872
[log in to unmask]
John Hyett
<john.hyett@BI To: [log in to unmask]
GPOND.COM> cc:
Sent by: Subject: Re: Formal Reuse
of Bottles (?)
HISTORICAL
ARCHAEOLOGY
<[log in to unmask]
edu>
03/21/2002
06:55 AM
Please respond
to HISTORICAL
ARCHAEOLOGY
>From personal recollections of an Australian upbringing
Milk bottles - for the city dwellers- in small towns, milk came in a
billy
can
Soft drink (soda) bottles - a good way to earn pocket money, pick up a
couple of bottles through the back fence of the store and take them
around
the front to collect the deposit
Beer bottles - in the 1960s in outback Queensland you could still take
empties to the pub and get them refilled
The Raliegh Man - traveled door to door in medicines, food additives
(lemon
essence etc) and other items. If I recall rightly he took back the old
bottles, but I may be wrong there.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert L. Schuyler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 5:47 AM
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
> [log in to unmask]
>
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