Why dont we buy our groceries like this.....

Just Something ive wondered for a while now since they brought out those re useable shopping bags.

Why not do the same thing with certain groceries?

For example you buy a bottle of cola take it home drink it all, and instead of buying a new bottle and throwing away the old one, at the store you find some sort of refill machine and just refill the old bottle. It would maybe be a more sturdy bottle or whatever. Imagine the waste this would reduce, let alone the cost to the companies on packaging.

You could do it for all sorts of things like coffee, eggs, bread, milk, hair products, all other drinks, those bags of frozen stuff like fries and peas etc. We already buy fruit and veggies this way so why not other things. Yes there would be some initail start up costs but in the long run would be cancelled out and maybe some hygiene issues that wouldnt take a nasa convention to solve.

Ive had similar thoughts with reciepts aswell, all that paper that usually never even gets looked at and thrown away. Most large stores have loyalty cards now, so why not just email a reciept upon purchase?

So many easy things we could do that would have a big impact on the environment.

Sounds great.

However, most people are too lazy to take their containers back to the store and wait to have them refilled.

Another Idea would be to go back to the 70's and turn in your used bottles for a deposit refund to encourage recycling.

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


Those are some good ideas. I know at least Sears and K-Mart have started emailing the receipts if you have their rewards card. I never thought about refilling the containers. I wouldn't want it for soda but for eggs and stuff it's not a bad idea.

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


About the soda, when I was young you had to bring the empty bottle (made of glass), to the store in order to buy a new one. Old bottles were inspected, washed and sterilized to be used again.

Health concerns, it would seem:

Even Plastic Water and Soda Bottles Should Not Be Reused

Health advocates also recommend not reusing bottles made from plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE), including most disposable water, soda and juice bottles. According to The Green Guide, such bottles may be safe for one-time use, but re-use should be avoided because studies indicate they may leach DEHP—another probable human carcinogen—when they are in less-than-perfect condition.

Source - About.com

They used to do that all the time with glass bottles, milk, soda, etc.

you'd finish the milk and leave the empty out for the milk man.

There is also something called soda stream which has been out for years in other countries but just became popular here.

You fill and make your own soda, its pretty cool, saves on all that packaging.

Makes me wonder why it wasn't around here for so long.

didnt know that about re using plastic bottles can be bad, must be a way around it with todays technology though.

In Germany there is a 25 cent deposit on every plastic bottle and soda can.
It's called the Dosenpfand.
The even have beer in plastic bottles,
so you pay 1:50 extra for a six pack.
In Germany nobody throws plastic bottles away.
They have become a commodity 4 PB = 1 Euro
and come in handy at the end of the month.
the returned bottles are shredded and sold to china as raw material for Fleece clothing.

Alot of products are put in their packaging with some form of preserving substance.
eg. Crisps/chips(for USA) have nitrogen gas in the bags to keep them fresh.

Fizzy drinks are kept fizzy in their packaging and refilling one container from another will lose gas.

It's just not practicle or safe for alot of products to do those kind of things.

Originally posted by benrl
They used to do that all the time with glass bottles, milk, soda, etc.

you'd finish the milk and leave the empty out for the milk man.

There is also something called soda stream which has been out for years in other countries but just became popular here.

You fill and make your own soda, its pretty cool, saves on all that packaging.

Makes me wonder why it wasn't around here for so long.

Milkmen are still in service and re-using the bottles...

Soda stream came about in 60's or 70's and it's just not the same as a popular brand drink.

Great idea. Now in regards to the re-usable bags, not many use them. Supermarkets should force the purchase of re-usable bags or you go home with everything unbagged. People will have to use them.

When I lived in Reno,NV..

there was a store called Smith's..

we used to refill our 2 liter bottles with their brand of soda..

it was pretty cheap too..like 59 cents per..

now that i am older, i don't even get near that HFCS poison....

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


Why bother buying your soda at the store at all when you can make it yourself right at home, all by yourself?

There's this neat little product I saw in the store a little while ago that I've thought about buying.

Primo’s Sparkling Beverage Mixes are delicious and better for you. We use 100% natural flavors and only real sugar - no high fructose corn syrup.

Our classic soda mixes have about half the calories of the branded beverages, and all taste great! We also have low calorie fruit sparklers and zero calorie diet options. Start pumping your favorite Sparkling Beverage Mix and you can have Better Living At Your Fingertips!

Primo Flavorstation

Originally posted by Chukkles

Originally posted by benrl
They used to do that all the time with glass bottles, milk, soda, etc.

you'd finish the milk and leave the empty out for the milk man.

There is also something called soda stream which has been out for years in other countries but just became popular here.

You fill and make your own soda, its pretty cool, saves on all that packaging.

Makes me wonder why it wasn't around here for so long.

Milkmen are still in service and re-using the bottles...

Soda stream came about in 60's or 70's and it's just not the same as a popular brand drink.

Okay mister contrary for contrary sake.

Originally the company operated as a subsidiary of W & A Gilbey, Ltd.[9] In 1985, after various changes of ownership, SodaStream became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, although it operated as an autonomous business within the group.[9] In 1998 SodaStream was bought by Soda-Club, an Israeli company founded in 1991 by Peter Wiseburgh, who from 1978 to 1991 had been Israel's exclusive distributor for SodaStream, creating the world's largest home carbonation systems supplier.[3][14] In 2003 Soda-Club closed the SodaStream factory in Peterborough, moving the company's gas cylinder refilling and refurbishment department to Germany.[15] Under the ownership of Soda-Club the brand has been relaunched in many markets with new machines, and new flavours, as of 2007 available in the United States, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Not available in the US until 2007... why such a long time with no release here? over a 100 years, sounds like the home of COKE and Pepsi did not like the idea. You seem to have miss the part where i said available in other countries.

As for the milk man, AGAIN not widely available.

While rare, milk delivery does still occur in the United States; in 2005, 0.4% of consumers had their milk delivered, and a handful of newer companies have sprung up to offer the service.[1]

All info from wikipedia.