Once seen as cutting edge, many of yesterday’s gadgets are – surprisingly – still in use or are making a comeback. Richard Godwin goes back to the future
Imagine a start-up entrepreneur pitching the traditional milk round to a venture capitalist. “So we’re offering a local, sustainable, subscription-based protein delivery system. And get this: it’s all going to be powered by electric vehicles…” Back in the 1970s, 94% of British households bought their milk this way, but by the 2000s, for the vast majority, it was part of the weekly supermarket shop. It wasn’t technology that killed the centuries-old tradition so much as economic forces: deregulation of the dairy industry and supermarkets pushing plastic bottles. However, milk rounds still account for 3% of milk sales and they are growing in popularity. The revival is mostly down to the “Blue Planet effect” – glass is much more environmentally friendly than plastic. A typical glass milk bottle is reused 25 times. Come to think of it, why aren’t we reusing Coke bottles, too?
