Glass Bottles

Pure glass bottles

Add beautiful colors and enhance your home by the strategic placement of colored glass bottles on window ledges, shelves or in nooks and crannies. These bottles do not have to be expensive as many bottles shapes are pleasing to the eye. If you come across a glass bottle you like the look of then hold on to it and utilize it as part of your home décor. You may decide to place flowers in some bottles as this has been a use long associated with empty glass bottles. Even without the flowers a collection of pretty glass bottles is pleasant to look upon. Glass is particularly enhanced in strong sunlight so bottles place by the window reflect lovely patterns into a room. Smaller glass bottles, perhaps old pill bottles in different shades, can be an attractive feature when placed together on a shelf.

Glass bottle types, styles and shapes

Manufacturers keep changing the shape of the bottles they use for products and this is a boon for anyone interested in collecting bottles. Some of the nicest and most common bottles have been made by Coca-Cola and Pepsi and many versions of their respective bottles have been produced throughout the years. Glass Coke bottles are very distinctive and many old samples are in existence due to the longevity of glass products. The Coke brand has long been associated with its bottle shape. Glass bottles may be brittle when dropped but, with care, they last for several lifetimes and decompose very slowly, if at all. Such a pity that some manufacturers have switched to plastic bottles.

Changing glass bottle trend

There seems to be a wind of change regarding the use of plastic bottles due to the scares concerning BPA. This is a good thing as far as I am concerned because glass is such a better product for the drinks we consume. There is a huge surge in the use of glass baby bottles over the previously popular plastic baby bottle variety.

Old bottles

Antique bottles

Collectors will love vintage glass bottles and there are many to choose from. One collector only collects vintage Coca Cola bottles and no other glass bottles and his collection is vast and I dare say he could double the size of his collection if he were to include Pepsi vintage glass bottles too. It should be noted that all old glass bottles are not valuable and some types of glass bottles were produced in their thousands and many of them are still available in collections or even in everyday use. Antique glass bottles would be of a rarer variety but many collectors of glass artifacts cherish the bottles appeal rather than its value.

Glass bottle types

Glass bottles may vary in size from the tiny pill or pharmacy bottle to the rather large bottles capable of holding gallons of liquid. Common bottle sizes are the 1 pint and 1 liter versions. Glass bottle making is still going on in many factories throughout the world today and a huge percentage of these bottles are destined for the wine industry. Many fine glass wines bottles are produced and some are beautifully designed and colored and are worth keeping (even when empty). Because glass is recyclable many broken bottles can be re smelted and turned into new products again.

Glass bottle care

When a bottle of liquid is dropped the liquid turbulence in the bottle can break the bottle glass just as much as the initial fall itself. This is due to a principal known as the water hammer effect which as the name suggest is just as effective as hitting the glass with a hammer. Broken glass bottles have many raw edges and care is required when cleaning spillages. Special lamination is sometimes done on glass, such as baby bottle glass to prevent shattering and protect the glass from falls.

A glass bottle is fully recyclable

Apart from the friendly, tactile nature of glass the remarkable thing is that it can be made new again. Recycling glass helps the environment as the recycling process requires less energy than making glass from new raw materials. So, remember to recycle unwanted glass bottles rather than throw them in the trash or, better still, keep the pretty bottles for flower vases.