Reuse of materials is even more effective. It extends resource supplies
cl . reduces energy use and pollution more than incineration or recycling.
many commercial and industrial materials could be reused, but think about
two obvious examples: refillable beverage bottles and 1.5 liter refillable soft
drink bottles made of plastic. Unlike throwaway or recycled cans or bottles,
refillable beverage bottles create local jobs related to collection and refilling.
In 1904, the majority of soft drinks and beer in the United States were sold in
refillable bottles. But by 1995, only about 7 percent of all such drinks came in
refillable bottles and only 10 states even had them. Some industries lobbied
hard to prevent the return of refillable bottles. Other countries are more suc-cessful at reuse of such containers. Ecuador, a poor LDC, instituted a refund-
able beverage container deposit fee that is 50 percent of the cost of the drink.
In Germany 95 percent of the soft drink, beer, wine, and spirits containers are
refillable. But Denmark led the world in reuse of beverage containers,
banning all that cannot be reused (Miller, 1998: 571-572).