They stopped using hard-PET plastics here for the same reason as glass: Higher cost (even environmentally) for maintaining and cleaning the bottles (min temp of 60c water is required afaik). The plastic is now separated and recycled as-is instead of reused. It's also one of the main reasons they want to get rid of glass beer bottles (as well as that cans do a better job of sealing it) but that is somewhat more difficult culturally.

> but that is somewhat more difficult culturally.

Also, changing the material changes the experience of drinking something. At least I find the experience of drinking from glass to be very different to drinking from plastic or drinking from aluminium cans, even if the properties of the liquid itself is completely unchanged.

(I dislike drinks with straws for the same reason; cold glass touching lips and liquid running out from it is a different and better experience than putting plastic in the mouth and letting liquid shoot up into the palate.)

To prevent glass breakage requires far more padding/thicker glass all of which increases transport weight even more.

Not only is glass breakage direct loss, its a health hazard. Always pissed me off when dumbasses did crap like break glass bottles in parking lots.

You still can around me- there's a company that specializes in making flavored sodas and encouraged returning empty bottles so they could be reused.

It's a fun novelty, but I think one of the first bottles that I had tasted like soap- probably didn't get fully washed or something. That also ended up being the last one I had. If I'm going to drink soda, aluminum cans are hard to beat.

If bottles are returned to be washed it doesn't take that much energy. An empty semi-truck doesn't consume that much less gas than one loaded with product because air resistance is the same either way. It isn't free, but it isn't very expensive or hard either.