The problem with this solution is that washing and sterilizing makes a heavy demand on the country’s own water sources, which may already be facing depletion. It works well in, say, Northern Europe which is very wet, but in Peru or India such a system is not so environmentally friendly. There, it may be better to use plastic containers that are recycled at a facility elsewhere.
How much water is used to clean/sterilize a bottle? Compared to resources consumed making the container from scratch or attempting to crush/reprocess it?
FWIW India already has a robust bottle return and reuse system.
> Compared to resources consumed making the container from scratch or attempting to crush/reprocess it?
Empty containers can be loaded onto container ships, where they can be recycled elsewhere, and new containers delivered the same way. While that may still not be environmentally optimal on a world scale, at least it would consume no extra water in regions that are arid or facing groundwater depletion.
> FWIW India already has a robust bottle return and reuse system.
The soft-drink industry in India has already been castigated for depletion of groundwater, so again, washing and sterilizing all these bottles only compounds the damage.
I feel like we are stuck in a loop.
Perhaps we need question whether or not it still makes sense to transport food and drink in small, individual containers.
One solution might be to transport in bulk. You could take your own bottles to the supermarket that are whatever shape and material you desire and fill them up.
How do you preserve the carbonation of soft drinks, then?
In order for drinks to stay fizzy, the container has to be filled under pressure. Even if you offer customers some fancy machine that can fill their bottles under pressure, you still risk issues with customers bringing in old, flimsy containers that cannot withstand those pressures.
