[homerowilson]

when i was a kid in the 60's and 70's milkmen delivered milk in glass bottles to your door (a locked insulated metal box at the door in our case), talking away empties to be washed and re-used. it seemed like a pretty good system.

[thatsamonad]

Some of the smaller markets in our area sell milk in glass jugs/bottles and charge a deposit (usually $3-5) that you can recoup if you wash and return the container. You can also keep the glass container if you want to use it for other things and just lose the deposit.

It makes the upfront cost higher but if you exchange a used bottle for a new one each time you buy milk it ends up being about the same cost as a plastic jug with quite a bit less waste.

[edbaskerville]

Straus Creamery sells their milk in glass jugs—available at grocery stores in San Francisco, including Safeway, the big chain. Stores charge you a deposit for the jug and refund it when you bring it back. Works very well. It would be nice if they designed new jugs that didn't always spill on your first few pours, though.

Haven't seen an analysis on the carbon cost of carrying the extra weight, but I would guess it's lower than manufacturing?

I would love to see SF (or anywhere) implement a system for reusable food takeout containers that made it easy for both restaurants and their customers. All you'd need is a citywide standard set of containers. Restaurants get daily container deliveries (only the kind they want) and customers get weekly (or monthly) container pickup. It would probably make sense for Recology (the recycling company) to handle the pickups.

[jjtheblunt]

same around Chicago(-land) in 70s and 80s, and in Phoenix the grocery stores do the recyclable glass bottles from the local dairies still (but not to the metal box on the front step delivery from 50 years ago).