14 July 2010

Ban alcohol in glass bottles?

| claireinqbn
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What exactly makes some people think they can – no, think they are positively obliged to – smash their booze bottle to pieces once they’ve emptied it? Can’t they just (please!) toss it down on the ground and leave it in one piece?

Everywhere I walk in Queanbeyan I see broken glass. Footpath and nature strips alike are liberally sprinkled with tiny, glistening shards. One of my dogs cut her paw the other day, luckily not badly, but I have to keep my eyes on the ground all the time while I’m walking them in case it happens again. The showground’s full of it too, despite the generous number of garbage bins provided.

Is it time to ban glass bottles for alcohol, at least the cheaper variety that gets consumed by dropkicks in public places? (Not my Chardy, obviously.)

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cegee said :

there will always be some people who’ll smash glass for kicks, regardless. and who knows, if you stop people from smashing glass bottles they might move on to car windows?

They might move on to a vulnerable member of the family… who knows?

South Oz and Europe have a fund system. You pay a few cents more (SA), 10-20 cents more (European countries), per glass up front, but you get it back when you deposit them in fund machines when returned. This is where your answer lies in my opinion. On tins, they cost too much in the re-manufacturing process, thats why we went more toward glass.

Tins are definitely my conveyence of choice for beer. The primary reason being that they take up far less room in the recycling bin and make a lot less noise the next morning when being dropped in there.

Put it this way, you can crush a can and fit more than twice the uncrushed amount into the empty carton. Perfect for picnics where there’s no available bin – bring two cartons of cans – one empty box for the cans and the second for all other rubbish. Easily carted away to the nearest hopper / recycling plant.

Try doing that with bottles without getting glass all over the place or cutting yourself to ribbons.

Thoroughly Smashed2:35 pm 15 Jul 10

I don’t know why I even threw the “high quality beer” reference in there because it’s a little bit irrelevant.

I agree with Thumper. Let anyone who wants to drink shit beer drink it out of plastic.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

What happened to aluminium cans?

Some high quality beers are being offered in cans in the US due to the fact that cans generally don’t transmit light, and hence no UV can get through to damage the hop compounds responsible for flavour in the beer.

The catch I find is that while beer from a tinnie might taste once you pour it into a glass, I prefer to drink it from a bottle if out at a picnic or somesuch.

Thoroughly Smashed11:08 am 15 Jul 10

What happened to aluminium cans?

Some high quality beers are being offered in cans in the US due to the fact that cans generally don’t transmit light, and hence no UV can get through to damage the hop compounds responsible for flavour in the beer.

georgesgenitals7:38 am 15 Jul 10

Ah Canberra – gateway to Queanbeyan (which has more character and was also here first).

Social cleansing of queanbeyanites would be less destructive, though it could be a bit more messy.

cegee said :

interesting that someone makes a joke about QBN and you call them a snob, but your comment “at least cheaper variety that gets consumed by dropkicks in public places? (Not my Chardy, obviously.)” is totally ok. right.

My snob comment was a joke (I don’t drink Chardy, as it happens). That’s what the smiley face is supposed to indicate underneath. I’m sure the Queanbeyan-knockers were joking too …

Yes, I’m all for a deposit on returns. They used to have it in the UK eons ago – can’t imagine why it was ever scrapped. I would ask my MP but I’ve written to him twice on other subjects and not had so much as a reply.

Thoroughly Smashed3:01 pm 14 Jul 10

Ban all cheap beer. Make everyone drink Brewdog Sink the Bismarck!.

grumpyrhonda1:47 pm 14 Jul 10

Affirmative Action Man said :

They don’t seem to have this problem in South Australia.

Then what is South Australia doing that we don’t? Paying a deposit on returns! Time for all states to take it up.

interesting that someone makes a joke about QBN and you call them a snob, but your comment “at least cheaper variety that gets consumed by dropkicks in public places? (Not my Chardy, obviously.)” is totally ok. right.

either way, don’t panic, as someone posted here a while ago there will hopefully be a container deposit scheme which might help.

but the truth is there will always be some people who’ll smash glass for kicks, regardless. and who knows, if you stop people from smashing glass bottles they might move on to car windows?

Ho ho ho to getting rid of Queanbeyan. I’ve been warned about you ACT snobs. Doubtless Canberra should really have been named Utopia 🙂

Fair point that they might not be booze bottles. I’m pretty sure a high percentage of them are, though.

georgesgenitals12:19 pm 14 Jul 10

Let’s get real here: enough people like to smash bottles in public places when they’re hammered. Packaging beer and premixed drinks into plastic and selling them that way is a great idea.

I don’t see too many yobs drinking wine from bottles, so this would be fine. As for spirits, we pay enough that tempered glass could be feasible.

Rikstr said :

hellspice said :

Remove Queanbeyan. Problem solved. 😉

Bwhahahaha perfect!

+1

Banning glass bottles would make the people who can apparently taste the difference between coke from glass bottles and coke from plastic bottles furious.

I wonder how feasible it would be to have bottles made from tempered glass or laminated glass so it is less dangerous when it breaks.

claireinqbn said :

Everywhere I walk in Queanbeyan…

There’s your problem. 🙂

I’m all for minimising glass for beverage containers, for exactly the reasons you state. But beer is better in glass.

I saw smashed glass in my street over the weekend and put it down to bogans smashing their beer bottles. On closer inspection (the dog was very interested in the label), it turned out to be an old vegemite jar. No idea how it got there (bin day is in the middle of the week and it wasn’t around then) – came to the conclusion that bogans (or children) will smash any form of glass object.

Moral of my story: unless you replace everything glass with plastic, you’re gonna find broken glass on the ground.

Affirmative Action Man11:12 am 14 Jul 10

They don’t seem to have this problem in South Australia.

It’s a fair call. My kids quite enjoy going to the park, but every single one I’ve been to in and around Canberra invariably has broken glass strewn around somewhere in the vicinity, quite often in the tan-bark under the playground equipment.

hellspice said :

Remove Queanbeyan. Problem solved. 😉

Bwhahahaha perfect!

There are a lot more incidents of people who sustain injuries through cuts from paper and cardboard. A small child might slit their throat while attempting origami. When will the Government intervene and regulate this dangerous product? 😛

Remove Queanbeyan. Problem solved. 😉

Glass is banned around Watson during Summernats, and it works well.

i read right up to ‘everywhere i walk in queanbeyan’.

to remove glass would be to remove the ambiance of the top hotel.

Those horrible poor people, inconveniencing you! And just think of the children!

I think a wiser choice would be to ban glass, full stop. Glass can be turned into knives, glass can be used to attack people, glass kills wildlife, and glass contains some horrible chemicals (that probably make people fat).

Yes, I agree with you. Let’s ban glass.

No, it’s time to ban dropkicks.

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