Not every glass bottle is the same. In the Czech Republic, there is a long running programme of recycling glass beer bottles. In most bigger Supermarkets, customers have the opportunity to return undamaged glass containers for the alcoholic drink, and in return, they receive 3 crowns per bottle. With an average beer consumption of more than 300 bottles per year per person, this cash is welcome by many. Furthermore, it lowers the trash output of households and helps the environment. While the programme cost a lot to implement, it is now successfully running for years, so soft drink companies are now deciding to jump on the ‘recycling train’ too. Both the Kofola and the Mattoni 1873 companies are planning to start offering their beverages in glass bottles that could be returned and recycled by customers in the coming months, with Mattoni 1873 planning to start offering their bottled water in such 1L containers as soon as by the end of September. This initiative is welcome by many environmentalists, as such a programme for plastic bottles seems to be far from happening soon in the Czech Republic.. Moreover, the route of glass instead of plastic seems to be more beneficial, as the recycling of glass consumes 40 percent less energy and only a fifth of all glass on the market can not be recycled, as opposed to a staggering 90 percent of plastic packaging.
