What does retornable mean on Mexican bottles?

When it comes to buying liquid in Mexico, not everything is as straightforward as you might think.

I myself realized this the first time I was sent out by my family to buy a two-liter Coke at the local neighborhood store. As I started out the door, my then-mother-in-law said, “Hey, you forgot the Coke bottle!”

“What?” I said. “What?” she responded.

This is how it went for a bit until I finally made the connection. We had a retornable.

What’s a retornable?

A retornable — literally, a returnable — is what it sounds like: a bottle of sturdier plastic or glass than the disposable kind that you can take to the store to return or “refill” by switching it for a full bottle.  Doing this has a couple of benefits. The one that people seem most keen on is that it’s cheaper. But it’s also ecological: switching out one piece of plastic or glass for another instead of throwing one away is a “granito de arena” (grain of sand), as they say.

So what can you return? Let’s have a look:

Garrafones

This 5-gallon water jug is likely the retornable that you’re probably the most familiar with. Because drinking water from the tap is not always the best idea, many people have a garrafón in their homes.

Initially, you need to buy a new one. The brand matters, as does the condition, when it comes to switching them out. If the garrafón is damaged or broken, the people at the store will not let you exchange it. If they do not have any new water-filled garrafones of the brand you have and want to exchange, then you’ll have to go somewhere else.

Garrafones are distributed by bottling companies — Bonafont and Ciel are big ones — and there are often delivery trucks you might be able to catch and ask to come to your home every week or so. Smaller local companies will also distribute to local stores or deliver.

Walk into a store with your empty garrafón and show the attendant. They’ll usually tell you to leave it on the stand and grab a new one.

If you don’t want to exchange them, there are also places called expendios de agua or purificadoras — water dispensaries — where you can wash them and fill them back up. This is usually a cheaper option. These are less common in major cities but are a staple of small towns across the country.

Because garrafones are so heavy, I recommend having them delivered if you’re able to. With this option, just hand them to the delivery person and they’ll give you new ones.

Coca-Cola

As you’ve probably realized, Mexicans love their Coke. You might have noticed the harder plastic bottles in the refrigerators of your local store of Coke. Here it’s the same dynamic as with garrafones, though you don’t always need to buy one initially.

Often, you can pay an importe (fee) of around 10 pesos instead. When you bring back the envase (container), you can get the importe back. However, you’ll probably just take the envase back to get another full one, this time without paying an importe.

Caguamas and cartones

A caguama is a liter-sized bottle of beer, and a cartón is basically a box of 24 bottles of beer. And guess what? They’re also retornables and you can also leave importes if you don’t have anything to exchange yet.

As you can probably guess, this is a very popular option for parties. Just be sure everyone knows — if they’re foreigners, I mean, because Mexicans will know — not to throw away the beer bottles.

Assorted goods

Though not a drinkable liquid, there are also places where you can go to refill your cleaning supplies. You just need to take your own envases to get filled there instead of exchanging them. These places are called jarcierías, and you can get things like liquid and powdered cleaners and laundry detergent here, usually by the liter.

Happy shopping, and don’t forget your retornables when you head out!

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, https://sarahedevries.substack.com/