Anyone miss the old days when everything wasn't in plastic?
Posted by Long-Trade-9164@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 241 comments
As I'm sitting poolside this morning eating a slice of cold pizza. I decided to open a can of coke as I don't drink coffe, I like my caffeine cold. I was reminiscing about as a kid if you wanted an ice cold pop, you opened a glass bottled one. It got me thinking. I know that the aluminum cans have a can liner made from plastics in them, it got me thinking. While at the grocery store yesterday with the wife, she was going to buy her favorite natural peanut butter which was in a plastic jar, but then saw Smuckers in a glass jar for .20 cents more. It made me think when did society move away from glass and everything migrated to plastics? Obviously it was a "cost saving" move, but did we trade healthier for chemicals leaching into our food products? How much of a cost saving move was it? When big corporations raises prices and shrink sizes?
It made me ponder. What if we made a transition back to glass and with today's technology we could easily recycle old glass into new glass, creating a new sustainable industry? Hell, we could institute a deposit fee like our parents paid when you returned empty 8 pack glass bottles to the grocery store to get your deposit back.
Has anyone else noticed if you order Chinese take out, you usually dont get them in the cardboard paper containers but usually they're in a black plastic tray with a plastic lid? I guess I'm saying, enough with the fucking plastics. That is all carry on. Enjoy your Saturday!
Weary_Boat@reddit
Yoohoo still comes in a glass bottle
Gunthr8@reddit
Even Band-Aid containers were made out of metal which could be melted down and reused
…if recycled.
Candid_Disk1925@reddit
I have one in my cupboard
MaeONays@reddit
Reminds me of a story my dad told me. He was at the grocery with his brother back in the 70s. They saw a display for two liter soft drinks in “new unbreakable plastics bottles!!!” So my uncle picked one up and threw it down the aisle as hard as he could. It exploded everywhere.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
HAHAHA! That's awesome!
likewhenyoupee@reddit
Snapple. I refuse to drink it out of a plastic bottle
TopicLost4398@reddit
It tastes completely different
space_wiener@reddit
Like what…styrofoam?
Plastic sucks but I’d rather have that than broken bottles everywhere.
Hab_Anagharek@reddit
Severely myopic take.
space_wiener@reddit
What?
So you are implying styrofoam is better than plastic? I always thought it was worse.
GrenVolx@reddit
Notice how ads like Coca Cola and Heinz still show the glass bottles but only sell the plastic?
ONROSREPUS@reddit
You can still buy both. They are just harder to find.
mattgwriter7@reddit
Yes! It is total BS.
adashiel@reddit
By this point, we’re filled to the brim with microplastics…and lead.
legerdemain07@reddit
Glass breaks and creates an injury hazard, which is why I think society moved away from it. Who wants broken glass at a beach? I would support a move towards more aluminum use, as it’s infinitely recyclable.
LtLemur@reddit
The 3 biggest things I’ve noticed is peanut butter, coffee and ketchup
--LowBattery--@reddit
I liked how you could just bring empty soda bottles back to any corner store to get paid. I remember combing schools or ballparks or normal parks collecting soda bottles to make a few bucks when you were a kid. Now recycling is just a pain unless you're dedicated.
juni4ling@reddit
Gatorades came in glass bottles. So did two liters.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
As well as the 16oz bottles with the foam wrappers on them. Like the New York Seltzer water had!
Spazecowboy@reddit
Those black plastic containers from Chinese food place aren’t recyclable.
Brilliant_Activity39@reddit
Technically they are, but it isn't cost effective enough for most companies/governments to justify the expense. Polypropylene is just not an easy product to reuse, apparently.
gaddnyc@reddit
I somehow link this to "the metric system". Soda came in a 64 ounce bottle, then a 2 liter plastic bottle.
kd8qdz@reddit
I got very sad when Hershey's bars stopped coming in foil and paper.
beyondplutola@reddit
Hersheys make me sad in general. It’s more like vaguely chocolate-flavored sugar wax.
FuturamaRama7@reddit
The best Hershey’s bars are called Hershey’s Golden Almond Bars. They are in foil and taste exactly how we experienced them as kids. I buy $100 worth every Cyber Monday (when they are 30% off) and give them to myself for Christmas:
https://shop.hersheys.com/our-brands/golden-almond/034000021031.html
It’s my favorite gift every Christmas.
TheProtoChris@reddit
While it still comes in a plastic bag, Hershey's Nuggets come wrapped in foil paper, and taste a lot closer to the bars of yore than the weird, thin, waxy stuff that pretends to be a Big Hershey bar today.
RaisedEyebr0w@reddit
Oh yeah! When did that happen?
Fight_Tyrnny@reddit
I remember my first few transformers when they first come out.. metal and well built... later on... plastic and snappy snappy.
RiotousRagnarok@reddit
I miss glass bottles the most.
GeneralPatten@reddit
I'm convinced plastics will someday be seen the way lead is today
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
GenX-ModTeam@reddit
{community rule 7}
Mama2bebes@reddit
Not with gutting of the EPA and corporations running the government. Action on lead was taken quickly after researched findings came out. The knowledge about plastics has been around for over a generation now, at least, with things just getting worse.
grayson7219@reddit
Watch The Plastic Detox documentary on Netflix. Very alarming. The scientist featured is Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D. God bless her.
Reasonable_Bid3311@reddit
I still have old coffee cans made of metal. they are from about 25 years ago, that’s it! I think plastic really became the go to around 2000. I’m not saying there wasn’t plastic, it’s just everything shifted to plastic.
Ted_Stryker4587@reddit
I miss how you could use old coffee tins as grease cans. Everyone did that back in the day.
Ok-Staff-62@reddit
Wait until you discover how much plastic you have in you...
edorhas@reddit
Yeah, but I accidentally drank ground glass as a kid, so it balances out.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
I'm 56 now, I'm sure I've got a shit ton of micro inside me.
Ok-Staff-62@reddit
There is an YouTube video about the 'forever chemicals' /plastics in our body. Might wanna check it out if your sleep is too good. :-)
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
I get 6 hours pretty much every night now. The beauty of getting older. Doesn't help having to manage a $380M sales territory and lying in bed at night hoping we hit our goal for the fiscal year.
ixnine@reddit
Every. Fucking. Day.
I wanna go back to glass soda and Gatorade bottles.
oatmeal-jones@reddit
Agree! Not quite the same, but the blood donation bus recently had Gatorade in throwback aluminum cans for after donation snack. It was ice cold and the best Gatorade I had in years.
yogafan00000@reddit
they used to write songs about people carving up their feet on broken glass at the beach. I think the plastic bottles have some advantages.
LurkingViolet781123@reddit
I miss the foiled paper bags some cereals used to come in. All cereal's in plastic now.
GalegoBaiano@reddit
And Sugar Crisp was a cereal!
LurkingViolet781123@reddit
I think Corn Pops, too.
leeloo72@reddit
Sugar Pops!
MadGriZ@reddit
Super Sugar Crisp.
r2killawat@reddit
Basically. Yes. I like the part how grocery stores are charging extra for plastic bags now (for the environment) when all the products are packaged in fucking plastic! And glass is infinitely recyclable but it's all about money and plastic is cheap af.
SecretMiddle1234@reddit
Save a tree, Use plastic 🌳
Gurnae@reddit
Who is going to save the plastic trees? Surely when they go, we're really screwed.
Extension-Pepper-271@reddit
Back when we had a choice between paper and plastic, I used to always say, "paper, save a plastic tree"
SecretMiddle1234@reddit
Lol
Extension-Pepper-271@reddit
That's the response I used to get!
AltruisticWelcome145@reddit
Radiohead?
Ragpicker21@reddit
christina311@reddit
Pepsi/Coke: Best from a glass bottle. Ok from a plastic bottle. Bad from a can.
What's next, disposable paper containers?
GeneralPatten@reddit
I prefer my Diet Coke from a can
christina311@reddit
I can taste metal from the can. Also, when I have a drink that I'm not going to finish immediately, I like to keep the cap on so it doesn't go flat. Or have a fly land in it.
Signal_Fan@reddit
I can taste a difference in soda when it comes in a plastic bottle vs a can.
My soda preference is glass bottle or cans. No plastic bottles if given a choice.
SpaceAdventures3D@reddit
Get Teddie peanut butter. Comes in glass and has no additives. Laura Scudder's pb is the same, but is often more expensive than Teddie.
I try to ask for paper boxes for taking home left overs. Plastic has become the default option they offer, but often restaurants will have a paper option upon request.
APoolio12@reddit
Its the plastic clothing that pisses me off. I'd really just like some normal cotton underwear or maybe a belt or shoes made from leather...but no...its all plastic.
East-Garden-4557@reddit
You can't be looking too hard, vitron underwear, leather shoes and belts are still available
MidwestAbe@reddit
Thank god. As someone who works outside in all kinds of cold and heat. Newer quick dry fabrics are such a better wear than sweating through a 100 percent cotton t shirt and having it stick to every part of you. And I guess you don't work in humid conditions if you long for cotton undies.
krush_groove@reddit
Gotta pay (a lot) for that level of quality nowadays, which is why I've taken up crafts like repairing my clothes (raw denim jeans, etc) and trying out making my own bridle leather belts.
ComprehensiveAir2921@reddit
Only thing I hate about glass is gets smashed all over road from garbage trucks causing it when they lift and dump to back. And kids smashing liquor bottles on walkways and my dogs paws. I never allow glass in my backyard with pool.
No-World-2728@reddit
I love glass packaging. I mad a point to buy mayonnaise and other similar things in glass if possible. Way too much plastic. Vote with your wallet !
GrenVolx@reddit
So very very much.
Lvrgsp@reddit
Yep every damn day.... I try and utilize everything as non plastic as possible, just do not enjoy anything out of plastic.
DirtyLikeASewer@reddit
Remember in the 80s... "New shatter-proof jar!"
We use jars in our house for leftovers, and sharing things. We try to avoid plastics with our reusable containers. I miss glass. My partner buys cokes in glass.
EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit
The manufacturers decided all our food should be in plastic containers. They’re lighter, thus transportation costs are reduced. They’re easier to move without lots of heavy duty equipment. The packaging is all marked recyclable AND 80% of them end up in a landfill. It sucks. I want to be to buy as many grapes as I need not 4lbs that freeze or spoil (or worse, never spoil?)
Ok_Ambition8538@reddit
A few years ago we used to get this really good chocolate milk in a glass bottle like the old school ones. The stores stopped carrying it because no shippers wanted to transport them due to breakage. I imagine things like this work into the equation too.
MoeBlacksBack@reddit
Snapple and Teddie Peanut Butter . Polaner All Fruit
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
That's what brand of peanut butter the wife was going to buy until she saw the Smuckers jar!
Ok_Ambition8538@reddit
I noticed it huge buying toys for my daughter about 4-5 years ago. Everything made very cheap and shitty plastic. When I was a kid if it was a plastic toy it was tough as hell. Now it’s all expensive trash.
Wacko_Banana_Pants@reddit
I can't drink my coffee in anything other than a ceramic mug. I swear I can taste the plastic or even the stainless steel when I use something else
rebelee79@reddit
Use a glass mug-next level…
Unexpectedly99@reddit
Completely agree, I switched to tea from coffee some time ago, but I have two glass mugs in my office and that's all I'll use.
buginmybeer24@reddit
Same here. I also taste the dishwasher detergent, even after thoroughly washing and rinsing it. I wash my ceramic mugs by hand just so I won't get any hints of detergent.
TwistedMemories@reddit
Glass is much heavier and cost more. You'll find that there are that people are much less inclined to haul up the glass bottles to the stores and that stores don't care to store them until a vendor picks them up.
Now, there still are a few milk companies that offer glass bottles, but the deposit on those bottles is usually $2.
Still people tend to recycle or simply throwing them away.
Polipop395@reddit
Yes! Just last week found Costco no longer had San Pelligrino in glass bottles, only more plastic. Sigh. Microplastics in all of us.
Ok-Carob1715@reddit
That’s disappointing. I usually buy it because it’s in a glass bottle.
aran_maybe@reddit
Things Leland Palmer says…
MMB_LLMN@reddit
What really pisses me off are states/areas where plastic grocery bags have been banned or have fees. Most of the products in my cart are packed plastic containers or bags, but the bags will save the world. Gtfo.
Severe_Eggplant_7747@reddit
So reducing plastic waste by 50% or more doesn’t make a difference?
MMB_LLMN@reddit
Pure bullshit to think that grocery bags are 50% of plastic waste
Severe_Eggplant_7747@reddit
The plastic bag ban in California reduced the amount of waste in waterways by more than 50%. That's worthwhile. https://www.cawrecycles.org/news/xtj9dcga9bmh5daxn4sw4kry4zpndg https://frontiergroup.org/articles/california-nations-first-statewide-plastic-bag-ban-cuts-waste/
MMB_LLMN@reddit
Like I said, pure bullshit.
The stats in your article say that bags made up 7.4% of waste, and a year later bags made up around 2% of waste. But you keep massaging those stats.
So yeah, a 50% reduction in plastic bag waste which was around 4-5% of total waste reduced. It's not nothing, but don't try to paint a picture that grocery nags are 50% of the plastic garbage laying around. They aren't and they never were.
Severe_Eggplant_7747@reddit
While I don't change my overall opinion I concede your point.
MMB_LLMN@reddit
It's a people problem. Not a product problem. I live in a semi rural suburb of a major metro area. Its a shock when I see some assface tossed a fast food bag on the side of the road in my area.
I can drive 20 minutes into the city and the streets are completely lined with litter in certain neighborhoods. And it's the same in every densely populated city I visit.
There is a pattern. And it's not the existence of grocery bags causing it. Its the people. Fuckin slobs.
Mama2bebes@reddit
Yep, don't forget the plastic shopping carts and plastic handbaskets. Veggies are put in those thin plastic bags. Everything you ask for at the meat and seafood counters, and at the deli will be handed to you wrapped in plastic too.
BitterPillPusher2@reddit
So if you can't eliminate all plastic, then you shouldn't eliminate any??
MMB_LLMN@reddit
No. If the bags are going to banned, why do all the manufacturers get a pass? The consumers and the retailers don't.
Its insulting to people's intelligence to pack milk jugs, sour cream containers, pints of strawberries, bread bags, all the rolls of produce bags into reusable grocery bags as if it makes a difference.
careyj103@reddit
We weren’t the ones who changed from paper to plastic bags, but somehow we are the ones who had to give them/pay for them when they became a problem. So many things like this in the past 20 years. Corporations squeeze every bit of profit for the shareholders and we pay the price, literally and figuratively. The only way we’ll go back to glass (or any other sensible thing) is if they find a way to make it benefit the shareholders. They give zero fucks about the consumer.
Adventurous_Bad_3421@reddit
But have you done any thinking or maybe even pondered on it?
JudgeJuryEx78@reddit
It got me thinking the same thing.
anyoutlookuser@reddit
I’ve been on a personal plastic boycott for years. It is absolutely astounding how much plastic we have around us everywhere. It’s not easy either. I try to buy products that come in paper or glass wherever I can but it is a challenge. I know I’m only one person and what I do doesn’t even move a needle anywhere but I still do it. And I ask everyone around me to at least be conscious and try where they can. It’s overwhelming.
Cantech667@reddit
I remember when meat was wrapped in waxed paper. It made a bit of a mess in the freezer if it leaked, but that was the way of things at the time.
Necessary_Giraffe_66@reddit
Our butcher still wraps it up like that. We get all of our meat from a butcher shop. The meat is better quality and cheaper than grocery store meat.
CTurtleLvr@reddit
My mom always wrapped our sandwiches in wax paper in our lunchboxes. Even when ziploc had been out. When my own kids were in school, I bought reusable cloth bags or wax bags.
noisician@reddit
glass is 100% recyclable, it can be endlessly melted down and made into new glass.
recycling plastic gives you a crappier material each time until after a couple rounds it’s not usable
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
Even as a kid, we didn't get soda in a glass bottle.
HistoricalTowel1127@reddit
My brother and I used to collect glass soda bottles and would take them in for the deposit. They absolutely had glass bottles.
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
I didn't say they didn't exist. I said we didn't get them. As in, it's not what my siblings and I were buying.
jitterbugperfume99@reddit
They were the only choice until I was maybe 10 or 11.
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
Not in my area.
Amantria@reddit
As an elementary school aged kid in the mid 80s, I remember ALWAYS walking dead center of the juice and soda aisle in grocery stores. I was terrified of knocking stuff over in that aisle.
Mijam7@reddit
OP is older than you then.
Self-Comprehensive@reddit
What? We certainly did.
johninfla52@reddit
I did but I remember as a teen it switched.
bulldogsm@reddit
I was happy at the switch because glass cola packs were heaavvvvyyyy, and then all of a sudden there were these huge light plastic bottles of coke at the grocery
now I rarely drink soda and wonder what happened to the glass lol
jasonhn@reddit
I miss chocolate bars wrapped in foil.
missmarimck@reddit
I just said this the other day when I ate half a kit Kat and couldn't wrap the rest up for later as efficiently as with foil...
CTurtleLvr@reddit
Yes! I teach AP Env. Science and I am always talking about the plastic problem we have. From the huge detergent containers to the plastic water bottles my students leave on my floor. The ones that listen do take my advice. My mom was pretty good at conserving, from using wax paper instead of plastic ziploc bags for our lunchboxes, to using cloth diapers. I did the same with my own kids, and I'm constantly trying to find ways to improve even more. The glass bottles would be a good start, I wish we could go back to those...
SRMPDX@reddit
Remember when all those glass soda bottles were wrapped in thin Styrofoam labels. Plastic is at least recyclable
ofthrees@reddit
i urge you not to look up how much of what you're 'recycling' is actually recycled...
Extension-Pepper-271@reddit
Before we began to understand the dangers of microplastics, I remember being excited to buy my first bottle of ketchup in a plastic bottle. Being able to squeeze the bottle seemed like a boon. Now, I will spend extra money every time I find a product offered in a glass bottle.
The only exception is milk. My family drinks almost a gallon a day, and the price difference of buying milk in glass bottles is ridiculous.
godofwine16@reddit
I preferred it when we had glass for liquids like milk and soda. It still tasted better than plastic or cans.
JulesChenier@reddit
I miss the days that everything didn't need to be charged. I have a 1970's house, there aren't that many plugs.
slowandlow714@reddit
My house was built in 1929, you get 1 outlet per room.
truejabber@reddit
Mine is a bit older. Knob and tube. Recently went to map out the breaker box and discovered almost everything other than the stove and refrigerator are running off of one 15A circuit. 😳Electrician will be here Thursday to add more circuits.
PlantWide3166@reddit
Me too, I even have two without any plugs.
Jonas_VentureJr@reddit
This post sounds like “Back in my Day!!” ramblings , next tell me how you walked up hill both ways to school .
SilverStL@reddit
In the snow
anonskier@reddit
Yes. I preferred styrofoam
Juanfartez@reddit
Don't forget the glass shampoo bottles breaking in the shower. Now your naked with broken glass in the water you can't see.
plasteroid@reddit
Yes. It sucks. In the 1950s there was about 2M TONS of plastic produced annually. Today it’s more like 450M TONS annually. And ramping up. On track to triple by 2050. Look for book “Beyond Plastics” by Judith Enck for the full scoop on how the oil companies have fucked us over with their lobbying.
Less than 5% of plastic is recycled. Much is incinerated causing even more problems like asthma….
watchwatertilitboils@reddit
The 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders played a big role in bringing in plastic on everything
SnooDogs5676@reddit
People will say I am biased but plastic or not one thing I understand is you should have your say in buying things that lasts for a lifetime. I read that bulbs where made to last for a lifetime but capatalists converted it to a buy again and again model. I feel bad thinking about it. People knowingly downgrade the product so that they can have more sales.. it is oppoaite of how technology should have evolved.. choose products that sustain for a lifetime. some one created a database for that i remember. buyitforlifeone.com ... duck capatalist.. invest in products that serve you for long time
carmen712@reddit
Clamshell packaging is the worst.
Bflatclar1981@reddit
Everything in plastic now and the colon cancer age has plummeted. I have to wonder about aaallll the microplastics we are exposed to.
I won't buy drinks in plastic.
Alice_600@reddit
I think the increase has been because of more screening and mercury we were exposed to as kids with coal power plants.
GhostFour@reddit
I remember seeing an episode of Magnum PI where a Russian is in Hawaii for some nefarious reasons when he looks into a public garbage can on the beach and pulls out a bunch of plastic trash. He made some comment about "Americans and their plastic". I don't think he was an actual Russian pontificating on our waste, but the writers or someone involved with the show noticed the problem in the early 80s and it has only gotten so much worse. I've wondered about glass before and why it's fallen out of favor. Especially since recycling turned out to be mostly marketing and lies.
tc_cad@reddit
Yes. Plastic sucks. I’m willing to bet I will get colon cancer. It hasn’t been confirmed that my Dad had it. He died from a heart attack 8 day before he was scheduled to get his colonoscopy.
Migamix@reddit
How else do we get the plastic into our balls.
grumpvet87@reddit
business had always been willing to hurt the customer in the name of profit. from days when snake oil was sold to "cure all" to meat packers canning rancid meat. it is 100% on you to get fresh food that is not packaged and protect your health. government isn't here to save us
18ekko@reddit
I could do without all the plastic, but I certainly don't miss dropping the glass jar of peanut butter on the tile floor, creating that tough to clean mound of pb holding all the glass shards together.
Lrgdustbunnybreeder@reddit
Pop/soda does taste so much better in a glass bottle but I sure do not like hauling a 8 pack of anything in glass bottles.
RikkiLostMyNumber@reddit
I agree BUT everything would get far more expensive right away. It's not just the packaging. Glass is heavy and these things get trucked around. Recycling isn't a profitable business now, but could be in the future I suppose, but overall I'm with you. I'm willing to pay a little more for a healthier environment.
johninfla52@reddit
Maybe a more expensive Coke would mean we drink less of it ... something I definitely need to do!
Flat_6_Theory@reddit
Glass is the way. Much better for flavor than metal or plastic. Cold brew my coffee in and serve it in glass.
Our fair city no longer collects it curbside. Now we haul it ourselves to collection centers so they can use it in the road mix.
Reddit_Only_4494@reddit
I often think were would we be now if we stuck to paper & glass instead of moving to plastic. Clothes staying cotton or wool instead of moving to the 100% plastic clothes so common today.
Plastics and synthetics were supposed to be the savior of the planet because the worry was running out of resources. Didn't really work out that way.
johninfla52@reddit
We were all sold a pack of lies on everything. And it's still going on. As long as the corporations and share holders make a profit to hell with everything else🙎
Chibi-Skyler@reddit
I remember when everything came in glass bottles/jars. Mayo, peanut butter, ketchup, pickles, fruit juice. I buy a low-sugar organic jam to mix into yogurt. It's a bit pricey, but so good...and it comes in a glass jar.
JoeInMD@reddit
Pickles still come in glass. At least Mt. Olive does.
Chibi-Skyler@reddit
Yep. A few years ago, I came upon a huge jar of Famous Dave's Spicy Bread & Butter slices at Costco. It was a heavy glass jar. Those pickles were delicious.
kikablue@reddit
I dropped a glass jar of mayo in the grocery store once. I still remember the weird wwwwump sound it made 😆
Master_Try_3821@reddit
I’m all for it. I would miss the idea of things falling off the shelf and not breaking, but glass is lifetimes better than plastic. It can be straight up reused. Wash, sanitize and reuse it as is. No need for any extra processing.
RoyG-Biv1@reddit
I remember returning pop bottles for change back in the day...
ShelterElectrical840@reddit
Personally, I pay more for the glass. Most of my cosmetics are in glass. I don’t have plastic leftover containers. I have glass. I request paper bags at the grocery stores and/or bring my own bags. But yeah, you have to work at it.
RoyG-Biv1@reddit
Plastics are easier for many manufacturers, even though it has limited recyclability. Large plastic bottles, like those for two liter soft drink bottles, are shipped to a bottler as a smaller size, which is then heated and blown into its final shape, then filled. The smaller size makes them easier to ship and store large volumes, even with additional processing.
Glass is essentially infinitely recyclable, but is heavy (more expensive to store and ship), requires a lot of energy to melt and cast into new containers. On the plus side, glass doesn't give off small particles like plastic does; even if it did, glass is inert and harmless if ingested.
For myself, I'd rather have glass overall, despite its shortcomings, and I'd rather have the Smuckers natural peanut butter over the sugar laden cheaper alternatives anyday. (Had to check, yes I have a jar of Smuckers in the fridge now.)
Tiny_Expression312@reddit
I buy things in glass whenever possible...tastes better.
allidyaj@reddit
Agreed. I was disproportionately bummed out when my favorite Blood Mary mix, Zing Zang, switched from glass to plastic. The taste difference is noticeable.
catharsis69@reddit
I always find it pathetically ironic how we are expected to bring our own shopping bags to grocery shops when every goddamn thing is packaged in plastic
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
Or having to pay for plastic bags at the store!
GalegoBaiano@reddit
I have to disagree on this one. I live near a convenience store and a supermarket. Since plastic bags were banned a few years ago, the volume of trash that people would just throw out the window driving by has reduced significantly. It’s also no longer in the tree branches, clogging the sewer grates, or getting matted down to make in impervious surface that water can’t get back into the ground.
Downside is that I have to buy tiny trash bags now for the waste baskets around the house, but at least I can get the “degradable” ones
catharsis69@reddit
I’m sorry you live somewhere where people are that ignorant about the city/town/village they inhabit. My point I guess is really the escalation of plastic-wrapped food has accelerated expeditiously where I live yet the grocers put the responsibility on the consumer to “cut down” on our plastic consumption
HistoricalTowel1127@reddit
I’m with you. All we have to do is convince giant corporations that we prefer this and it may slightly hurt their bottom line.
OldHead1776@reddit
At least with Cokes, you can get the Mexican Cokes still in the 12oz or 16oz bottles. Made with real sugar as well, old recipe. These are the only Cokes I buy.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
They're not cheap. I saw a 24 pack at Smart and Final for $44. Still cheaper that what mexican restaurants charge for a single bottle though.
OldHead1776@reddit
I can find cases for $34 sometimes online. I order it off Amazon usually, but Costco has it as well. Sometimes more, but I drink one or two a week. It's not a huge expense.
Ipickthingup@reddit
Mexican coke is my goto pre cycling drink!
RealtorRVACity@reddit
I am seeing a LOT of IG reels about this subject and I think it is time for a revolution of sorts. I also bought the Smuckers in the glass jar because it is just peanut butter without seed oils etc. I got rid of all my salad dressings and bought avocado oil based ones from Primal Kitchen, the Green Goddess being my favorite. I think the black plastic is even worse. I never heat anything in plastic. I also urge you K cup addicts to buy the metal vessels for it as K cups are plastic heated to hundreds of degrees. I won't buy a can of any sort moving forward, yes they are lined with plastic as are all the "paper cups" these days. What happened to wax anyway? Slightly off topic, I was buying my bourbon in plastic and am now switching back to glass even though it is quite a bit heavier. Do your research y'all.
MidwestAbe@reddit
Research (Instagram reels)
Ambitious_Bridge_265@reddit
WOW, aside from the rest of your comment, did you seriously just drop “IG reels” on a Gen X forum/s
OAKRAIDER64@reddit
Styrofoam that was it.
nadiaco@reddit
All the time
sageguitar70@reddit
Heaven would be one more Ding Dong wrapped in the foil.
Ganymede3456@reddit
Also Milk. Delivered in glass bottles and when the bottle was empty rinse it and put it out to be picked up. Recycling before we knew what recycling was. Now endlessly rinsing tetrapaks
lgoodat@reddit
We can still get milk in glass jars and return for a deposit but it's a niche product, costs a lot more, and is only in half gallons. They do make some solid strawberry milk though.
sageguitar70@reddit
Pudding was way better in the tin cups
patawpha@reddit
Glass soda bottles were already not very common by the time we came around. I knew very few people who went out of their way to drink out of them even if most people agreed they tasted better.
BitterPillPusher2@reddit
I'm 53 and distinctly remember when soda only came in cans or glass bottles. Even 2 liter bottles were glass. Juice came in giant cans.
patawpha@reddit
I remember that too. I'm just saying as far as soda goes most people were drinking out of cans by the early-mid 80s.
Separate_Primary_686@reddit
Where I notice it a lot is anytime you order clothes online they come in a plastic bag inside a plastic shipping bag. Nicer companies used to send a box with tissue paper, and now it’s just so much plastic.
Mama2bebes@reddit
Of course! The profits to corporations were not worth the cost to the environment. I remember reading that glass cost more to recycle than plastic does, but glass would end up being 100% recycled, unlike plastics which have been a disaster.
As kids growing up, our job was to collect the aluminum soda cans to bring to the grocery store when my mother went shopping. She would let us keep the money we got for them.
Why is it that more states/countries currently do not have the plastic bottle return program? In the USA, I think it's only ME, OR, and HI.
stuhstutter@reddit
I hate to say, recycling is mostly a charade anyway. Hardly anything truly gets recycled. The recycle logo on products was designed by the fossil fuel industry to make us think things are getting recycled somewhere. We just sell the empty plastic containers etc to China or India where they probably just throw it in a pile and set it on fire.
ms5h@reddit
Transporting heavy, glass bottles uses a lot more fossil fuels than transporting lightweight plastic. It’s not a simple calculation
Mama2bebes@reddit
No, of course not.
Btw, growing up, we got our milk in glass bottles from the local dairy. We traded in the empty bottles for milk-filled ones. There were less long-distance transport costs when folks bought locally. That can be part of the solution. I don't need to buy peaches in little plastic cups that have been shipped from China ...when I live in the peach state.
Separate_Primary_686@reddit
Yes, pisses me off! It’s so wasteful.
Taphouselimbo@reddit
Lay the blame where it belongs. Big oil lobbyists. Before plastics it was lead that was everywhere that’s was also a big oil contribution. It’s ok to be nostalgic but pair it with some anger that we a leaving a world in shambles for the kids.
CommunicationNew3745@reddit
I remember well the days of glass. When Pepsi discontinued the glass bottles, an uncle actually called the company enraged, making a complete ass of himself trying to get everyone to join in his phone call/letter writing crusade, to no avail. Even shampoo bottles were glass into the 70's . . . funny, as the other night for some reason, the memory of Head & Shoulders still coming in the milk-glass bottles came to mind, then I remembered Prell shampoo, still in the glass bottle, too - a whole other world, place and time.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
I remember using Prell in a glass bottle as well.
CommunicationNew3745@reddit
I remember it in particular because after a bottle fell & broke in our bathtub, my mom started buying it in the tube.
RedditSkippy@reddit
Yes!
As far as soda goes, I sort of gave it up in the past 15 years or so. I used to keep some Coke in the fridge, but I moved in my early 30s and somehow that was enough to drop the habit. Nothing deliberate, I simply started noticing that I was drinking less and less of it.
ANYWAY, I’ve always been of the belief that fountain soda tastes way better than bottled soda—especially the small plastic bottles. The soda from the small plastic bottles feels too carbonated, somehow.
stuhstutter@reddit
You can get that fountain soda taste if you buy those "Nitro" Pepsi cans. I don't know if Coke has a version of it. The nitrogen bubbles released from some widget in the can make the soda creamy and good. It kinda takes me back to drinking fountain soda in a pitcher at a pizza place in the 80's.
msmika@reddit
Fountain soda is the best!! I worked at a law firm once where one of the clients was the Coca Cola Company, and all of our break areas had soda fountains. It totally spoiled me!
Absentmindedgenius@reddit
Well, you probably wouldn't want glass bottles round the pool. You get glass in water and its damn near invisible.
BitterPillPusher2@reddit
Metal cans exist. So do paper cups. We managed just fine before plastic bottles were around.
brookish@reddit
The main consideration is shipping, and glass weighs more. So you get your fossil fuels either in the form of plastic or in higher shipping fossil fuel expenditures. Glass costs more to recycle, too, and recycling it consumes more fossil fuels.
All that said, manufacturers have put the responsibility of recycling on consumers and are interested only in what benefits their bottom line most. That’s capitalism in America. What’s good for consumers really doesn’t factor in.
zuuzuu@reddit
In my Canadian province the responsibility for recycling is now on the producers. They have to handle all residential recycling, from collecting the blue bins at the curb to actually recycling the shit they produce, and have diversion targets they have to meet. It's still early days, but i think it's a step in the right direction.
brookish@reddit
Coca Cola quietly founded the movement to “Keep America Beautiful” in the states to make sure that they were NOT legally held responsible by for recycling the containers it sold product in. The idea being to normalize consumers feeling the onus instead of industry. Diabolical really. Crying fake Indian was a liar in so many different ways.
Alternative_Sock_608@reddit
Yes even candy bars are wrapped in plastic today. I hate it!
BitterPillPusher2@reddit
Yes! I mention this to my kids all the time. Everything was glass, paper, metal, foil, wax paper, etc.
I think plastics have harmed our health and the environment far more than society wants to admit. The sentiment seems to be that there's no other option. But there are other options - we used them for decades.
wildcat_crazy_zebra@reddit
Glass soda bottles always bring up memories of jr high - the school was a few blocks from a grocery store so we'd walk over before or between classes for Dr Peppers. After slugging them down the next step in our delinquent errand was to pull the Styrofoam labels off in tiny those strings - goal was to have the longest unbroken string - then put the cap back on and bowl the bottles down the cement drain line in the middle of the alley. If you got it right the bottom and top would pop off while and the middle would crumble.
Damn we could be some Bebe's kids.
shotsallover@reddit
There was a big ad campaign back in the day where they showed someone dropping a glass shampoo bottle in the shower and it shattered, then they showed a plastic one hitting the tile and bouncing. That was the moment everything started shifting rapidly.
Bryanmsi89@reddit
We are literally drowing in plastic. Eating plastic. Some say each of us eats a credit-card worth of plastic every week. Plasticizers are in the blood of newborns, and endocrine disruptors from plastics are causing all sorts of issues. People's blood vessels and brains are full of microplastic particles. Birds and fish and turtles are eating the plastic and often dying. Single-use plastics are the height of irresponsibility, and we're going to regret them in a big way.
gristle10@reddit
Green Gatorade in glass bottles. So damn good
stuhstutter@reddit
Oh man, on a sweltering summer day after playing a little league game, a cold glass bottle of green Gatorade was incredible.
Honeybee3674@reddit
The plastic is driving me batty. There's so much of it on all grocery and food items, and much of it is not even recyclable. This stuff doesn't break down, why has it increased so dramatically in use over the past 10 years?
I used to get applesauce, pasta sauce, peanut butter, etc. In glass jars that we reused, and now it's all plastic. There are so many micro plastics in everything and it's just unavoidable.
m149@reddit
I am so sick of plastic and cardboard boxes from so many deliveries. Have cut way back on deliveries, but avoiding plastic is basically impossible.
acreekofsoap@reddit
They still sell coke in glass bottles, you can even get the mexicoke with real cane sugar.
decent_kitten@reddit
We buy it at Costco. No plastic bottles for us.
WaterwingsDavid@reddit
This is the best!
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
I have had the Mexican Coke from the glass bottles and I enjoy immensely.
mldyfox@reddit
I've started replacing the food storage containers I use with glass. I've still got to use some plastics for my son, but as much as I can I'm replacing with glass or the reusable silicone bags and containers.
Plastic is cheap, but I've had to replace so many plastic containers, it's ridiculous.
Some younger folks are starting to use the glass and limit plastic. It's really cool to see some of the younger folks wanting to learn how to cook, and preserve, and even use fabrics in clothing that can be mended like cotton and linen. Can the polyester be mended? Sure but it definitely looks mended.
JJJW8@reddit
We just got back Mexico and thoroughly enjoyed the odd bottle of coke in glass bottles. It also took us back to our childhoods, cuz it was the taste we remember. They use can sugar instead of the corn syrup/fructose/sucrose crap we have here.
dewihafta@reddit
I live in Tucson, and these are definitely preferable.
newyork_newyork_@reddit
Blame the petrochemical industry!
Fishinluvwfeathers@reddit
And every politician they’ve bought.
gassyflower@reddit
You know what I don't miss? Broken glass everywhere.
socialmediaignorant@reddit
I miss not having microplastics in my brain and bloodstream. My foot healed after the glass apple juice bottle cut it.
TheCatWhoOvercame@reddit
I still remember when Reese's peanut butter cups came in a thin paper wrapper and you could open them like a present.
yeahwellokay@reddit
I remember when candy bars came in aluminum foil with a paper sleeve. I'm not quite sure when that ended.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
Hershey bars!
ms5h@reddit
Tylenol poisoning. Everything switched to tamper proof packaging and rethinking how things get packaged.
Feminist_Hugh_Hefner@reddit
yup, my partner is millennial and was blown away that we used to buy stuff with zero tamper seals.
We had some refugees land in our area when I was a kid in the 70s and I remember it was a little rough adjusting... one of the things was they would just open stuff in the store to see was it was, have a taste, whatever... our concept that a jar of peanut butter is a thing, like "the jar" is the entity, was different than theirs... they just saw it more like the produce section... like it's some peanut butter and it comes with a jar, but it's not intrusive to open it up
copperfrog42@reddit
I always refolded the aluminum sleeve back into shape and stuck it back in the wrapper. My boyfriend at the time didn’t like that habit at all.
Long-Trade-9164@reddit (OP)
Yes! When they actually tasted good versus the crap now Hershey puts out and was called out on by Reece's grandson!
dirtybo0ts@reddit
Literally pops into my head daily.
We’re currently working towards a life with very limited plastic. It. Is. Hard.
blueskiesbluewaters@reddit
I think about the same thing all the time.
Roboto33@reddit
I remember metal numbers on cars. I guess there’s many reasons for plastics at times, but I trip out what you pay for a vehicle these days and how much is plastic.
Even the Snapple bottles are plastic. That was the one of the few beverages that kept their glass bottles a lot longer than many other things
Artichokeydokey8@reddit
The same people that helped shape this change and supported it are the same people still supporting it. My parents eat on paper plates just because, they go through a roll of paper towels in a day instead of using a dish towel. The use plastic bags to store leftovers instead of a reusable container. They buy pre made food in plastic containers instead of fresh food. Life is all about convenience for them. When I argue, they say what about all the water used to clean the reusable things? Dumbest argument ever. Never ends well. I go above and beyond to use less plastic and make less garbage to try to make up for their bad habits.
BendakLives@reddit
Society didn’t move away from glass, corporations did to reduce operating costs. Plastic costs less to produce, transport, and discard. It’s lighter and more durable, meaning less waste from breakage.
porcelainvacation@reddit
The transport thing is a much bigger deal than most people realize. A trash bag full of empty beer bottles is heavy enough to tear out if you aren’t careful. A trashbag full of cans weighs practically nothing. That adds up to the distributor’s fuel costs.
Ustob@reddit
Simply put I miss everything about
90s and early 2000s.
-a big one is woman’s fashion and Esp Jeans.
I went to mall in hometown with oldschool GenX homies from back in day and we cracked up when we saw young girls looking all Frumpy
One girl had em pulled up to her bust
And the other girl had a shirt tucked into sweatpants pulled up just as high.
Today plastic is annoying. ESP when you need scissors
1Boxer1@reddit
As far as Coke goes, i love drinking it but will only buy the Mexican version that comes in bottles, since it tastes so much better, not only because of the sugar but because it’s in the bottle. I also try to buy other drinks in bottles of at all possible. Both plastic and aluminum ruin the taste for me. I remember when Snapple came in a glass bottle and I loved drinking their lemonade on a hot day but once they moved to plastic, it was like drinking a completely different drink and I stopped buying it. I completely agree with everything you wrote and maybe it’s my age showing and I’m just screaming at the clouds but if that’s the case, I’ll continue screaming.
pickleball_bender@reddit
I think about this all the time.
romancandle@reddit
Not just cost. Glass is heavier and thus has a much higher climate impact when shipped. Everything has tradeoffs.
AryuOcay@reddit
We used to send the glass bottles back, too. Gas was a lot cheaper then.
Persificus@reddit
Ever since the 80s
gaiusrex@reddit
Why don’t you just pour it into a glass?
Zargoza1@reddit
Everything tasted better in glass bottles.
Better than aluminum, much better than plastic.
MaximumJones@reddit
Naive_Product_5916@reddit
I’m with you. I miss it when things are made from glass or metal and lasted a long time. Sometimes I try and explain to kids how really nothing was plastic when I was little, and that the plastic we had was very rigid. I had a plastic drinking cup from the late 60s and some of our Fisher-Price toys were made of plastic but that was really it wasn’t it? I remember when cokes started coming out with the plastic bottle it would seem to be revolutionary. I also remember the news item about the plastic carrier bags that we’re supposed to hold more and be stronger than paper bags. I really miss the paper bag.
666ForMySorrow@reddit
Glass shampoo bottles! Fun to work those with soapy hands!
Overall-Avocado-7673@reddit
I'm wondering if maybe all the broken glass all over the place from litter bugs had anything to do with it?
Remember taking those glass pop bottles back for a deposit? I think we got $0.10 a bottle in Ohio. Couple bottles and you could get a candy bar.
DrKlahnsRightHandMan@reddit
In high school I'd let pop bottles build up in my car then return them and buy a gallon or two of gas when I was low on cash.
theghostofcslewis@reddit
I had a Mandarin Jarritos last night in a glass bottle. I have some Virgil's Root Beer and Cream Soda in Aluminum cans and glass bottles. I purchase glass over plastic every time. It's available, it just costs more... doesn't everything?
IamUnamused@reddit
told my builder I didn't want Trex decking but instead hard wood because I don't want more GD plastic in my life and he looked at me like I had 3 heads.