When did cola start coming in plastic 2 liter bottles?

[LuckyCharms]

What happened to the glass ones?

[brewens]

1. That's been a long time ago now. I suppose it's saved a shitload in transportation costs but

at what cost environmentally, I don't know. I remember the old quart bottles real well. That was a real rodeo sorting and shipping all those back to be refilled.

I wonder of beer companies still used the old bar bottles? I've been out of the business now for 20 years or more. Used to be they had those long neck bottles that were not twist tops. They came in real heavy duty boxes too, also made to stand up to repeated use.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Those Boxes

You could pretty much safely use those things as a step stool.

But, they needed those boxes to transport the bottles both ways. Full in, empties out.

I worked as a bartender, part time, when in college in the mid-70's.

Thing is, glass bottle recycling has become so efficient that it's actually cheaper to melt them down and make new bottles than to wash out and sterilize the old ones. And, the environmental impact is almost neutral because they don't need all that hot water, although they need a lot of new heat.

[brewens]

4. I have a bottle of Budweiser that made it back to us filled with a bar napkin stuffed in

it. The washing process didn't manage to flush that out and no one spotted it. You can't make out any of the print on the napkin anymore, but you could when I first found it.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Speaking of Bud

I have one of the antique wooden cases! They're taller to accommodate the old atlas plugs, like the Grolsch bottles
Can barely read the logo
Has to be a hundred years old

[brewens]

11. Pre WWII Bud stuff had green in the logo also. The lost the green because they couldn't get the dye

or paint because of the war. Never brought it back after.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Not On The Crate

The crate was just black ink
I know its around a hundred years old but, i see no hint of color, so that green thing must have been strictly the bottle label or something
Definitely not the Crate

[brewens]

17. No doubt marking the crate just for ownership identification, not promotion. n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

19. That Has To Be Right

Keeps the cost down too
The cases that started this were only red ink on cardboard and way less detailed than the 6 packs
So probably for the same reason

[underpants]

2. About 1980 I think

But I could be wrong.

[procon]

5. RC Cola and Shasta have been sold in 2 liter bottles for as long as I can remember.

We always loaded up for family BBQs and picnics and when the grandkids come over for the weekend.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. I was buying eight-packs of 16-ounce glass bottles of Tab, Doctor Pepper, and so forth

at least until 1986, if I recall correctly. I used to buy them at the Reid grocery stores in Charlottesville for 99 cents, again IIRC.

[frazzled]

7. Google makes things so easy

PepsiCo introduced the first two-liter sized soft drink bottle in 1970. The bottle was invented by a team led by Nathaniel Wyeth of DuPont, who received the patent in 1973.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-liter_bottle

[Dave Starsky]

14. Nathaniel Wyeth

Brother of artist Andrew Wyeth and son to artist NC Wyeth.

Talented family, there.

[Orrex]

21. Also the great grandson of Wyeth Earp

True fact!

[Codeine]

8. 1983 or thereabouts. Some manufacturers

and bottlers kept going with the glass for a while longer.

[Major Nikon]

9. I can remember trading in empties at the market

As of not that long ago, the Dr Pepper plant in Dublin, TX would still give you a case of full if you turned in a case of empties. Not sure if they are still doing it.

[Dave Starsky]

15. That Dublin plant was like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

For a long time, they were the ONLY Dr. Pepper plant in the US still producing Dr. Pepper using cane sugar instead of HFCS. That stuff was the nectar of the gods. Jason's Deli had it on tap.

Sadly, I think the Dublin facility got bought out, and a lot of their magical behaviors stopped.

[Major Nikon]

16. I used to fly there in my small plane

A call from the airport would send someone out from the factory to pick you up and I'd load up my baggage compartment with as many cases as I could carry. I didn't drink much of it myself, but neighbors and relatives were always glad to get it.

The idea kinda caught on and eventually others were distributing it commercially here in the DFW metroplex, but it was fairly expensive. I heard that Dr Pepper's corporate office cracked down on them and I suspect that may have had something to do with their demise.

[Callmecrazy]

13. Earliest I recall seeing them was in '76.

Fourth of July.

[ailsagirl]

18. According to Wikipedia...

PepsiCo introduced the first two-liter sized soft drink bottle in 1970. The bottle was invented by a team led by Nathaniel Wyeth of DuPont, who received the patent in 1973. In 1985, a three-liter bottle appeared on supermarket shelves. The design is still used to this day by some bottlers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-liter_bottle

[MicaelS]

20. One liter glass bottles would explode...

When sitting on the shelf back in the 1970s. I stocked Shasta back in the middle 70s. These bottles were glass with a foam outer sleeve. Many times in the summer, I would be stocking shelves and a bottle would rupture. That is why they are not made anymore.

[FakeNoose]

23. Also lawsuits

My neighbor received an eye injury (permanent damage to her eye) when one of those glass bottles exploded. It might have been right around 1970 or 71. They sued PepsiCola and won, so I'm sure it was happening elsewhere as well.

I hope you didn't get injured, but it certainly could have happened to store employees and customers.

[MicaelS]

24. Yes, I heard that happened to some people, but not to me.

But, I always thought soda in glass bottles tasted better than cans, or plastic. I can still find them in glass 10/12 bottles locally (DFW area), mainly from Mexico. Mexico has some excellent mineral waters in glass bottle, too.

[Orrex]

22. I don't think that I've ever seen a glass two-liter soda bottle

Where I grew up in eastern PA, the local brand A-Treat used (IIRC) 32-ounce glass bottles.

[MicaelS]

25. AFAIK, they never made 2 liter glass bottles.

I could be wrong though.

[Orrex]

26. I have to figure that they'd be expensive to make and super-heavy (nt)

[MicaelS]

27. Me too. n/t