Reuse Bottles

I like beer. I like Belgian beers in particular. These tend to be sold in bottles, and so my weekly trip to the supermarket also includes taking back the empties, and smashing them into the recycle containers outside the store. Almost all of the beer I buy comes in one of four shaped bottles, and the potential for reuse as opposed recycling is clear.

One of those bottles doesn't even have any labels on it, so it looks 100% new just before it crashes, ready to be recycled. Why recycle something that it 100% functional - reuse it!

Countries such as Belgium, and France have been reusing bottles for years. I fondly remember childhood holidays in France, hunting for thrown away bottles to be exchanged for cash. Britain used to do it too. British shops used to charge a refundable deposit on bottles too, but we did away with that, who knows why.

Is it practical to save up a years supply of used Belgian beer bottles in my loft, and then take them back to their country of origin? Getting back a deposit, that I didn't pay sounds like money for nothing. Of course, a trip by car to Belgium may be have a far greater negative impact than the benefit of reusing the bottles. Sigh.