If it’s January, this must be Memory Lane…

Recycling values. In the Beginning (1973) Bullseye glass was made of recycled bottle cullet. Thirty-five years later, a lot has changed. And a lot has not.

If you happened to grow up in America in the 1950’s as I did, you’re probably familiar with the self-congratulatory litany of virtues we were raised to believe were uniquely (US) American: inventiveness (aka “Yankee Ingenuity”), self-sufficiency, frugality, honesty, candor – all the Honest Abe stuff we truly believed contrasted us to “Old Europe” (even before a moron among us put a name to our arrogance).

The Oregon Bottle Bill of 1971 insured that local operations like Portland Recycling had enough mayo jars for the Hippies who’d gotten themselves a US Patent for the opalizing of recycled bottles and their transformation into Catspaw Opals. That’s Ray Ahlgren on forklift.

As rebellious as many of us were in the 1960’s, that same so-called Yankee spirit was clearly alive and well in the air-headed schemes our generation cooked up to solve everything from World Peace, to making art glass.

What happened to recycling in Bullseye’s manufacturing operation? What happened to this factory as it grew? What are our values today? How do we live them?

And what happened to the all that stuff we thought was so “American” in the ‘50’s and ‘60s?

If I can get back on track with this blog thingy*, I’d like in the next few posts to look at where those particular values and the odd-ball schemes that seeded this factory are today.

*OK, OK, I’m bloggin’ again - are you happy, Cyn?