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 Does anyone on the list know of PUBLISHED sources, or unpublished papers,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]
>