h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Until a few years ago the beer bottles in the province of Ontario in Canada were all the same and could be returned to the Brewers Retail outlets in exchange for the deposit. I believe Brewers Retail cleaned them and sold them back to the breweries for reuse.The breweries, who have a monopoly on selling the beer they produce and do so through the Brewers Retail stores, decided to change this a few years ago and bottles are now crushed and re-made from the empties that the Brewers Retail takes back.Interesting that the original efficient and economical system was discarded in favour of the present inefficient and expensive system solely because the brewing monoply, for their own reasons, wanted to change it. This is particularly ironic in a country that is constantly wailing about how environmentally responsible it is and is very critical of all that do not meet its (false) standards.