Would it be better if we went back to glass bottles?

Question

Just a thought. Plastic, of course, is made from oil were as glass is made from sand. When you recycle plastic you can only re-use about 10 % of the recycled plastic mixed with 90 % of new plastic, were as glass you can use almost 100 % when it is recycled. Just a thought.

Answer 1

Great question.  I think this is a good option for some products to cut down on waste.

Answer 2

giving money  back on the bottle/washing it and then refilling it would be best :)

I think we ought to have standard bottle sizes and shapes then there'd be even less wastage? you'd get milk delivered to your door in the morning in the same shape bottles you drank beer out of on a night

@angelcity

indeed, that's why I drink beer in the pub in pint glasses and not in bottles, however the extra energy involved with transporting glass is negligible compared to the energy involved in melting it down and reforming it isn't it?

plastic water bottle pollution is a big problem in the water ways, there's an ozzie firm that's making bottles out of a plastic that degrades fast and has a tree seed embedded in it so as it breaks down a tree gets planted... (maybe... see the link)

Answer 3

I think so!  I remember the good old days of walking into the grocery store with our empty bottles and putting them on the belt that went into the sort room!  I loved it and you got paid for it!  

I think if people got paid for recycling they would do it more!  

Things also taste better from glass.

Answer 4

never thought about that before, we would save oil that way at least

Answer 5

i think so. Because then maybe we could figure out a city-wide system where we could all recycle them. At least you can turn glass into something else instead of having it rot in a landfill for thousands of years!

Answer 6

I try to use glass whenever possible.  For instance, I can my own vegetables and to do that, you use glass canning jars.  Much better option than tin or aluminum cans.  You just wash them and continue to use them over and over just about forever or until they get chipped.  I am using some of the same jars my grandmother used 50 years ago.  Now that is recycling.

Answer 7

Overall, I think so but there is one thing to consider with glass.  It is a heavier container for an equal volume of product.  As a result, it makes it more expensive to transport because the vehicle (train, plane, whatever) would require more fuel to transport it.  Not sure if the petroleum savings in the bottle manufacturing would more than off-set the added fuel used in shipping.

Answer 8

In a way it would be better because glass, as you mentioned, is fully reusable.  But the glass bottles are heavier, which means it takes more gas/energy to transport them.  The only thing one can do, to try to be as friendly to the environment as possible, is to use LESS.  And just as a side note, tap water is checked regularly for impurities, but bottled water is not.

Answer 9

I think the fact that glass is much healthier to use for food and drink is another great reason to return to glass.