I live in Germany and I see glass bottles that have been obviously re-used--e.g., beer from one brewery in glass embossed with the slightly-raised lettering of

I live in Germany and I see glass bottles that have been obviously re-used--e.g., beer from one brewery in glass embossed with the slightly-raised lettering of another brewery. I couldn't tell you whether it's economically efficient or energy-efficient to do things that way, when you consider all the direct and indirect inputs; any more than I could tell you how to make a pencil. But I can tell you that Germany does it.