What Makes You Want To Reuse Instead of Recycle?

Generally, I'm not as good as I could be when it comes to recycling stuff.

I know, I KNOW.  I should do more.  But I was a bit sidetracked to remember since the whole pandemic thing, where the city was just putting the recycled stuff in the same canisters as the garbage stuff. So I guess I let it just slip my mind. And sometimes I just would rather re-use something again rather than just chuck it in the recycle bin.   Take for example, these bottles.

I've been picking up some probiotic drinks lately. I don't drink them every day, but I find if I have one maybe once a week, it helps a lot with tummy rumbleness.  You know, where you're not hungry, you're not sick, but sometimes your tummy just rumbles or makes noises.  Well, I find it does that less with these drinks.

So that's one afternoon, and then I'm left with the bottle.  The bottles are a nice, heavy glass, and they just... I don't know.  They seem too good to throw out, if that makes sense?  And then one day I saw something online about plastic water bottles.  What I was doing was reusing a plastic water bottle and refilling it with water, washing them in between usage, that kind of thing. I've been trying to drink more water at work and at home, and individual bottles help me remember how much I've had and how much I need to have.

WELL.  Hearing that they're loaded with chemicals made me think, well, dang, I can't use those anymore like I have been.  I'll just use the glass ones instead that I get from my probiotic drink.  It was simple enough.  Remove the label, a little goo gone on the side to get the adhesive off, and you're set.  Now I have about five of them that I rotate through... but there are going to be others.  I'm gonna keep drinking the probiotic drinks.  So what should I do with the rest of the bottles? Re-use them in some other way, or just chuck them in the recycle bin?

What are some things that you'll re-use before you throw them out, like those metal Danish butter cookie containers that are always used for sewing supplies? Or that package you got in the mail that you don't want to throw out because it's a "good box"? Or those margarine tubs that people re-use as Tupperware? What would you recommend I do with the glass bottles?

Re-usingly yours,
Behka