When I first set out on my journey to reduce waste and live a more sustainable life, I was brainwashed by the “all plastic is evil” message I heard from pretty much every zero-waste blogger and expert I found. Everything I read told me to shun items packaged in plastic in favour of the superior option—glass. But, is glass always a better choice than plastic?

Over the years, I’ve learned a few things that have made me realize these choices are not always as straightforward as they seem on the surface. Let’s have a closer look.

This post was originally published in March 2020 as “Plastic containers are preferable to glass – yes, really!” and updated in February 2023.

The advantages of glass over plastic

Wanting to do the right thing and reduce single-use plastic, I started buying items in glass jars instead of plastic containers.

The primary advantage to glass is that, unlike plastic which can only be downcycled, glass can be infinitely recycled without losing any quality. Sounds great, right?

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The downside to glass

As I did more research, I learned glass has some definite disadvantages that most zero-wasters won’t tell you about. Here are some facts you might not have thought of.

• Making new glass requires sand—a finite, non-renewable resource.
• Glass is heavier and more expensive, making it difficult to transport. With the high cost of fuel, not to mention the carbon footprint of the transportation industry, that’s definitely something to think about.
• There is a limited market for recycled glass. Although the province of Ontario requires that glass be accepted in all municipal recycling programs, our local waste management authority tells us they would have to pay recyclers to take our glass. Note: This may change with the upcoming privatization of recycling programs in Ontario.
• Glass breaks easily and, once broken, it can’t be recycled.

What happens to the glass in our blue box?

Here in Waterloo Region, glass collected in blue boxes is not recycled, but it doesn’t go to waste. It’s reused instead. It is mixed with rubble, concrete and crushed toilets and used in place of gravel to build roads and line pipe beds in our landfill. In fact, our waste management authority tells us that plastic packaging is preferable to glass because they have well established markets for turning plastic into new products. What????

If you’re planning to reuse your glass jars instead of recycling them, by all means stick to glass. But if you’re buying food in glass because you think it’s better for the environment, think again.

It’s a learning experience

This revelation confirmed for me that waste reduction and eco-friendly living is a learning experience. Although we try to do the right thing, we might not always get it right, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we give up. We should still keep trying because every small change does matter.

Have you learned anything along your waste reduction journey that surprised you? Tell us about it below.