The Real Thing

There are many mysteries in the universe - what happens to objects that travel through a black hole, whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa, when will Arby's bring back their Onion Petals, and why in the world can't I get my hands on a carton of eight 16oz. glass Coke bottles?

I was never really sure about what happened. One day I'm at the grocery to pick up a carton and they were gone. The empty return bin was filled overflowing with that beautiful, shapely green glass, but the grocer informed me he could only give out the deposit money on returned bottles. Coca-Cola was now only available in cans at his store. It was a sad day. I decided to keep my bottles. I kept them as a constant reminder of a world that was no longer in existence. A few years later, my heart was broken again when the bottles were dropped during a move. To this day, I can still hear that horrifying sound of glass breaking and cardboard crumpling.

Coke from a can or a plastic bottle doesn't taste the same and don't get me going on those little 10 oz. bottles Coke keeps trying to appease us with. It is not the same taste. On a hot day, there was nothing as refreshing as quickly downing an ice cold 16 oz. bottle of coke followed by a truly spectacular belch of carbonated air. Excuse me.

I've heard one of the reasons for the torturous pull out was the hassle of the return bottles. They had to be collected by grocers who turned them over to the bottling company. There was the process of cleaning, sterilizing, and refilling the bottles with delicious goodness. Of course, there was the whole matter of collecting and returning deposit money on the bottles. I say the taste outweighs the hassle. But it is not just taste.

Think of the good for the environment if coke would stop manufacturing those plastic bottles. By recycling the glass bottles, there would be a lot less plastic garbage. And we all know how long it takes to get rid of plastic. People who pay a deposit on the bottles are less likely to simply toss them out the window or into the garbage. They'll return them to the store the next time they pick up a carton. If I remember correctly, those glass bottles were good for anywhere between eight to twelve refills before they were disposed of. That's what we call conservation.

I have to admit that much of my love for the old glass bottles has much to do with nostalgia. I can still remember when Coke and other companies used a cork lining on the inside of their bottle caps. Kids could improvise a quick game of checkers by drawing the board on the sidewalk with a rock, then use two different types of pop caps as the pieces. I almost feel as if my kids are missing out on an important rite of passage by not being able to collect bottles to return them for the deposit just to get some candy.

Nostalgia notwithstanding, I sincerely miss the taste. The pause that refreshes has become the cause that distresses.