Time to start bringing back the empties

About 30 years ago I wrote a column challenging the rise of glass "recycling" which involved pulverising perfectly good bottles and melting them down to make identical new ones, writes Peter Rhodes.

My piece was inspired by a university report questioning the environmental benefits. After all, dairies would never dream of smashing up milk bottles after one outing.

But it was pretty obvious, even back then, that the bottle-smashers were unstoppable, thanks to the support of celebrities such as HRH Prince Charles, in his new green guise, and of the supermarkets who said it was too expensive to store old bottles.

Yet in France, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway and other countries, a deposit is paid on refillable bottles.

Bill Bryson, the travel writer and President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, says it's nonsense for Britain not to have a bottle-deposit scheme.

I sense the wind of change. I look forward to 21st century kids discovering the 1950s joy of filling your arms with empties and reclaiming the deposit at the nearest offie. Coming soon: how to darn socks.