There are many ways to recycle glass bottles and jars without sending them to the recycling center. In most cases, glass containers can be washed and reused for other purposes. When you're shopping at the grocery store, be sure to purchase products that are in attractive and decorative glass containers. If you plan ahead to wash and reuse a glass container, you're not just recycling; you're precycling, too. Recycling a single glass bottle or jar can save enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for as much as 4 hours. Thus recycling bottles and jars is definitely worth the effort.
If you tend to purchase food in bulk from health food stores, keeping it in the original plastic bag isn't a good idea. Glass containers, on the other hand, are ideal to protect your bulk foodstuffs. Spaghetti jars are usually the best choice. To get started recycling, you'll need a bottle brush, some dish soap, isopropyl alcohol and Goo Gone, a natural citrus-based cleaner. First, rinse the jar out on the inside. Fill it with water and add some dish soap. Then scrub around inside the glass jar with the large end of the bottle brush. Use the small end of the bottle brush to dislodge any stubborn bits of food.
Wet the label of the jar with water and carefully remove as much as possible with a blunt tool such as a screwdriver. Then wet the jar label down with alcohol. Continue to gently work the label off of the jar with the tool. Then spray some Goo Gone on the remaining adhesive. Allow it to sit for several minutes. Then rub the adhesive off the glass jar with a clean white cloth. Wash the jar thoroughly with soap and water and allow it to dry. If the glass jar has a decorative lid, you're done with your recycling. If not, simply go over it with a little craft paint. Then paint the name of whatever product you plan to put in it. Finish it with polyurethane varnish. You can also use white adhesive labels to mark the contents of your storage jars.