Germany Is Running Out Of Beer Bottles

Talk about a strange problem.

It's been a hot summer in Europe this year. Well, hot for them. A 90 degree day there is like a 100 degree day here in Maryland. Those Europeans are just less tolerant of the heat, so they've been fighting against it by drinking lots of beer. I can think of worse reasons to drink. But there's a problem in Germany with the heavy drinking: They're running out of beer bottles.

There is a good explanation for this issue. Well, there is an explanation. Germans don't do canned beer (I don't care much for cans either, so I can sympathize). They prefer bottled beer (again I can sympathize, I even prefer bottled to beer from a glass). Germans also like recycling their beer, but they have a very specific system to handling beer bottle recycling, which I won't describe. The point is, there are a limited number of bottles in the country, and most of them are sitting in people's homes. Smaller breweries are starting to beg people to return their bottles so they can be reused.

Now, I don't want to criticize the German commitment to recycling, there is certainly a very good argument for being environmentally friendly. But, guys, this is a really dumb problem to be having.