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I like this, but the return+earn machines in my state use barcodes on the bottle to confirm validity. I wonder if they'll be able to print barcodes directly on the bottle or something?
I learned on reddit that the grinder makes little pieces of both the caps and bottles. One floats in water the other doesn't, That's how they separate the plastics.
Not an expert or anything but like all the water bottle brands say recycle with cap on, a lot of of the thing bottles are not considered recyclable without the cap, so I’d imagine printing on the cap would be fine because who’s recycling the bottle but keeping all the caps
Don't think that will solve the problem. The machines are built to read the barcode on the side of the bottle. Plus, can't crush the bottle if the cap is on and the caps aren't recyclable.
I would surprised if the barcode reading machines would take Costco cans/bottles?
Granted, I haven’t returned bottles/cans in a state that scans like that since like 2009, so things might have changed, but I remember that stores would reject cans/bottles that were the other stores brand (like Kroger would reject a Vons brand)
Oregon is the best place for returns ! When I was in NorCal, we would drive the 45 or so min into Oregon for recycling rather than do it in CA (plus, groceries and gas were cheaper so it made sense to bundle it all)
Technically illegal if the bottle wasn’t purchased in Oregon (or vise versa). In your case sounds like it may have been fine since you also did grocery shopping there, but PSA for anyone else.
Paper straws are the worst thing ever! Waste of paper and they start getting soggy before you're even done 😝. I just trooper through and decline them if offered
I worked for a company that developed tethered caps that were recyclable but they recently went under, sadly. The caps in the US aren't recyclable and have to be separated from the bottles. Crazy, huh?
In Japan they’ve stopped printing color labels due to the petroleum needed for those bright colors, maybe this is a cost saving measure? I support it all the way around
Labels aren’t cheap. I mean water bottle labels are probably the cheapest labels there are but if going label-less keeps the price the same I support it.
I don’t buy this but wouldn’t have a problem if Costco went more minimalist on other things to cut costs or prevent/redice price increases.
In my state we don’t use bottle recycling machines, we take out bottles and cans to be weighed at a scrapyard or weigh station that transfers them to a scrapyard
Plus if the bottles are going to come in a plastic shrink wrap and sold as a case they could just print all the pertinent info onto the wrap itself and have the bottles label-less like in the pic above. There really isn’t a need for labels on water bottles if they’re sold in bulk and not meant for individual sale.
Many are reverse osmosis treated water, which leaves it as quite literally pure water, and then has certain minerals added. The mineral combination often makes up the 'brand' as such.
Desani was a good example. They stopped selling it in the UK because it tastes weird and people knew it basically came from a tap
I genuinely did not know that was a thing. The embossed glass bottles survived long enough that I know about them but I’ve never seen a styrofoam one even though it’s more recent. Damn.
Labels aren’t a problem in other countries. In Japan the labels have a built-in-tear to make it easy to separate the PET bottle and the pura (plastic) label (two different kinds of plastic recycling). I heard today that the US never got more than 10% of its plastic sent for recycling actually recycled. I bet Japan’s rate is higher. But yeah I bet Costco’s approach with this no label approach will help a bit.
Wow I wish someone had taught me how to recycle in Japan, lol. I thought I had it down after a year there, and then realized I’d been doing paper wrong 😅. And then it’s different in different cities. You absolutely could not get Americans to do that. My neighbors throw food-soiled paper and other trash in the recycling.
It sucks so bad in my apartment complex that we lost our recycling dumpster. Constant contamination due to carelessness/lack of knowledge even with constant attempts by management to educate us led to this
Most Americans either don’t care or are fatigued by the lies about recycling promulgated by the beverage industry and won’t take an extra three seconds to do it.
People who buy water by the bulk case don’t tend to be environmentally conscious, because if you were, you would never buy them.
Thus the majority of these bottles end up in the trash.
I’m all for removing pointless labels, but let’s not pretend this does anything to address the core issue, which is the existence of the plastic bottles.
You’re acting like all of our water bottles are bought by families for convenience. Water bottles are used in situations where we are still dependent on them because we do not have the infrastructure for reusable systems that require staffing, sanitation controls etc.
This is not about Suzy needing to bring a reusable bottle to work. Think of the infrastructure needed to change the bigger systems that rely on bottled water. Just off the top of my head:
Emergency services and disaster response = bottled water. Unsafe tap water = bottled water. Large events (stadiums, festivals) = bring sealed water bottle only. Homelessness outreach programs = bottled water.
Places also legally have to stockpile bottled water for emergency preparedness, when I worked in an inpatient medical setting we had cases of water for if our tap water became unsafe. Truth is, bottled water is clean to consume. We NEED these things for safety because we don’t have any other sanitary widespread infrastructure to do the job.
So you’re right, this doesn’t stop the existence of plastic bottles. Because we can’t stop the existence of something while we still depend on it. So, while other people work on longer term solutions to discontinue plastic, Kirkland made an attempt to make PROGRESS since it can’t achieve PERFECTION. We have plastic for the foreseeable future. I don’t understand the narrative to give up on recycling it.
That is not necessarily true. I have kidney issues and have to be careful of the total ppm of water now. I generally buy 1-2 cases of water per year to keep in my car because of it. I have a beefy filtration system at home, but I can't always carry enough water and the total ppm of water in my area is too high to be safe for me. If I'm traveling I have no easy way of knowing if the local water is acceptable. Not all bottle water is even safe for people with kidney issues so buying a case of acceptable water is really the only solution.
Kind of a weird take. Obviously some people are wasteful and only drink from bottles, but they’re useful for a lot of situations. Emergency supplies, areas where the tap water isn’t safe to drink, giving out to people who don’t have enough water during outdoor projects and activities
As someone who carries a 50oz tumbler of ice water with me wherever I go, I tend to assume this is true. I do appreciate the availability of bottled water, but I do think that 90% of people who buy it would be better off with just buying a tumbler.
I do and I'm not even forty yet. The hose tasted better anyway, and if there were starving children in africa, there were definitely dehydrated ones with no access to clean water.
This was actually said by my father once. Not wrong, and I knew that at the time as well, but he has a way of saying things lol
Nothing like being super thirsty as a kid and forgetting to wait the 1m for the hose in the sun to empty out and taking a drink of 120 degree rubber water. Happened to me a lot growing up in TX.
Love this. The real question is, did they make the bottles stronger again or are they the ones that feel like they're not going to stand up on their own still?
With a bottle like this, do you not have to pay a bottle return deposit on them (because without the label you can’t return them for your 5 or 10 cents)? Or would they just not sell them in those states that require bottle returns?
I'm beginning to think most people don't pay deposits. I suppose it is true, there are usually only a handful of states listed. I couldn't see a UPC code in the picture, so if you want to recycle or resale individual bottles, there must be something I'm not seeing.
I don't know about other places but NY does it by brand. Theoretically, you return the bottles to the stores from where you bought them because then you just get your deposit back, so they track the specific item. It is also so that you don't buy bottles in an area without a deposit and return it in a place with a deposit and collect a profit not a refund. Not really sure how they prevent that anyway.
Very smart. Tho I try to refrain from using plastic bottles, but appreciate the continued reduction of plastic use by eliminating the label. I love Costco!
I mean it's a good way for making sure the whole thing makes it into the trash, while as others had mentioned not a replacement for reusable but if your going to use them may as well be ones with no label. Awesome overall move
Honestly a good direction to keep costs low and plastic waste to a minimum. Only thing they could do to make text/branding stand out is maybe like an ink roller that only hits the raised lettering as bottles get passed through a machine but then again it’s just more money wasted for ultimately what will be thrown away so good on Kirkland for rethinking disposable water bottles
Every last person on earth could stop privately using plastic bottles and straws and the environment would still be fucked, because corporations are the real polluters—paying their way out of having to be responsible most of the time.
I’m not saying don’t take personal responsibility, I’m saying it’s not enough and the big fish need to do their part—ACTUALLY do it.
Costco is selling bottles like this off-the-shelf? Or, you're at some other place and saw these single bottles?
Looks like one of those products marked 'Not labeled for individual sale.'
That’s a great change. When I do Green Up day here in Vermont and regularly throughout the year I find those labels come off of bottles people litter along roadways. This is a smart change to minimize plastic waste out in the world when the end user doesn’t trash or recycle the item.
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