Million pop bottles remain empty By CHRIS MALETTE Staff Reporter More than one million empty pop bottles, taking up warehouse space in an east hill warehouse, will likely remain empty unless talks between the company which owns them comes to terms with the federal government and a private company on ways of making them safe for sale to the public. Jeorg Ostermann, a representative of Coca Cola, the company which owns the warehouse on the corner of Bridge and Sidney Streets, said today the industry is likely looking at the fourth quarter of 1981 for the reintroduction of 1.5 litre pop bottles. ' ' T h e i n d u s t r y is negotiating for a third party (other than the federal government or the industry itself) to do the coating needed to allow the bottles back on the market," said Ostermann. 4 He was referring to the 'The idea behind one proposed plastic coating on company doing the coating is the torpedo-like bottles the to prevent any one soft drink industry feels will keep the company from getting the federal government imp on the others when the convinced there is no danger ig b o t t l e s a r e r e of personal i n j u r y to i n t r o d u c e d ' s a i d consumers in the event one of Ostermann. "The bottles the bottles shatters. The would be coated and released bottles were banned in all at once so there would be August 1979 after 50 people one uniform release of them were injured by bottles which on the market." exploded or accidentally Until this time, the 1,283,202 smashed. The shards of glass sent forth from the bottles bottles will sit gathering dust were described as shrapnel in the warehouse here in Belleville. by victims. t <