History of bottle recycling in the United States
[2] However, during the second stage, after World War II, consumption patterns changed and nonreturnable containers became popular, which littered the environment.
[5] In the United States in the late 18th century, bottles for beer and soda were handmade and filled and were therefore relatively expensive.
At the beginning of the 19th century, people still reused bottles many times, also to store homemade drinks and foods.
[1] The Great Depression and "materials shortages" during World War II made the deposit system common for milk, beer, and soda bottles.
The beer industry was the first to switch to non-returnable containers, which proved difficult at first, because pressure in the can could not release and the metal changed the taste.
[2] The first firm to successfully introduce cans was the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey in 1935.
[1] Technological advances made disposable bottles more prevalent, but social and economic changes were important as well.
[2] The glass and aluminum industries promoted convenience as an important part of modern life and many people started purchasing beverages to drink "on-the-go".
[2] These new regional and national grocery stores did not want to deal with a deposit system that was not profitable, took up floor and inventory space.
Further, deposit and reusing bottles did not seem to fit with a new shopping mentality that reduced interactions between customers and store owners.
[3] The soda industry began the anti-litter campaign "Keep America Beautiful" in 1953 to teach consumers how to dispose of their single-use containers.
[2] The campaign was also intended to divert attention from legislation that would have banned single-use containers or installed deposits and instead focused on educating consumers.
[2] In the mid-1960s, when the waste problem was becoming obvious, President Lyndon Johnson advocated for "federal funding for municipal solid-waste programs" and Congress looked at passing legislation to ban nonreturnable containers.
[4] However, lobbyists from the beverage-container industry were mostly successful in stopping these bans and bottle bills by arguing that they would hurt sales and lead to job losses.
[4] As consumer awareness about the waste problem began to spread, companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi pushed for recycling programs in their advertising campaigns (e.g. "Keep America Beautiful") in the early 1970s.
[4] Companies, among them Coca-Cola, testified before Congress and advocated for legislation such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
[6] Over the past 20 years or so, PET bottles have become the most common material to package beverages, replacing glass and metal.
[5] Contamination can occur either when substances from the beverages themselves get absorbed into the container or when bottles are reused to store unsafe liquids such as cleaners or chemicals.
