Anyone who knows me knows that I'm far from a tree hugger.  Take care of the land?  Be good stewards of that which God has given us?  Yes, of course.  That only makes good sense.  But the 'envrio-nazi's' of the world, the ones who are chaining themselves to trees and protesting against anything that involves a drill or shovel, well, they're nuts.  A group of environmentalists are pitching the notion to our legislators in Austin that a refundable deposit program is a great way to get people to recycle cans and bottles.  Oh really?  I got news for you-their idea NOT original.  It's been done and, at least around here, largely abandoned for economic reasons.  When I was  a child, we didn't get sodas in plastic bottles.  Your choices were aluminum cans and glass bottles.  We usually bought the bottles.  I don't know exactly what size they were, but you'd get six of them in a cardboard carton.  We'd take the bottles in and get a nickel or dime back or just trade the bottles when you bought more.  Way back when, milk was done the same way.  I have very vague memories of Floyd, our Borden milkman, coming to the door.  That all ended in the 70's and early 80's of course, but contrary to what many of these whack job tree hugger's would have you believe, we did recycle back then.  Within the last few years, a company came along that offered milk in glass half-gallon bottles again.  We started buying it.  The deposit on the bottles was steep-$2 in fact-but the milk was so good!  There was a definite difference in the flavor, at least to me and my family.  Sadly, the company has gone out of business.  People just are not willing to pay a bit more for quality.  Or maybe the nostalgia of  the glass bottle era is lost on folks today.  Or maybe they didn't advertise enough.  I don't know, but I miss 'em already!  Economics has a lot to do with the abandonment of this kind of packaging.  It's costly and when you're in business, the bottom line matters.  I miss those glass bottles of Coke and Dr. Pepper we used to get.  Yes, I know you can still find the little bottles of Coke and I buy them from time to time.  But I'm a Dr. Pepper man for the most part.  It is the national drink of Texas after all.  No, it's not a new concept.  I'd like to think we could go back to that.  But, in spite of the cries of the veggie-eating, electric car-driving enviro-nuts of our world, I just don't think the consumer can pay for it.  Now, if gas goes back to $1.25 a gallon....maybe.

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