Many jurisdictions no longer recycle glass (considered too expensive), but will collect for upcycling. Could this be the right time for a renaissance of this type of design? It probably would require incentives from the government, which imo are merely manifesting preexisting externalities.

According to the European glass recycling organisation it uses 25% less energy to recycle glass than using sand as raw material (as I read their claim). [1]

[1] http://www.ferver.eu/en/node/31

There’s also an international sand shortage. It’s an ecological disaster.

Aabsolutely. I use glass bottles for water storage, and while they're a bit cumbersome to refill, I won't ever use plastic for this again. It's nice to know there's nothing leaching into my drinking water, plus carrying them around is good exercise.

I did this for my first few weeks in construction, need a gallon or more so I end up with a $1 gallon in plastic every day, and recycling earns money for the agency I work through. I will look into a glass gallon when I get a place with a sink. With 1L glass I’d recycle them about weekly and get a fresh bubbly water and keep the bottle for another week.

Imagine if there were a collapsible filter you could push through then neck, along with a hole drilled in the bottom.

You could get a few in series and have a hasty purification system.

So many ideas! Where’s the Mechanical Engineers at? Coca-Cola or Pepsi better see this.

I am no expert, but I can imagine they wouldn't be too much more expensive to produce; after all the mass production of glass (or plastic) bottles is a solved problem. In fact, square bottles might be cheaper because you can stuff more of them in a box, less wasted space.