The advent of aluminum cans as containers for carbonated drinks epitomizes our current wasteful society. Before cans, glass bottles with steel caps were the norm. They still are for most beers, while sodas slowly evolved from aluminum can to plastic bottle with plastic cap, an equally wasteful choice compared with the glass bottle option. Glass bottles are recyclable and fully reusable, and as far as I remember the days when they were the only option, everyone recycled them as a matter of habit. Steel bottle caps are also reusable. In Spain, one of the favorite options for kids not too long ago was using bottle caps to assemble soccer teams and play miniature soccer matches on improvised surfaces (a small rug, a smooth floor surface, a table, etc.). It was as easy as cutting a round picture of your favorite soccer player and inserting it in the cap. Full teams could be assembled quickly, carried in the pockets of your trousers and deployed instantly for a match. The ball was a garbanzo bean or a rounded sphere made of aluminum paper. Looking back it seems an amazingly creative, resourceful, intelligent way of inventing games and making a lot from a little, probably something seriously foreign to today’s kids. In Spain there is a revival of this pastime. It is called Futbol Chapas and has clubs, a 16-page official book of game rules and regulations and, since 2005, an official national championship.
