Why do we need the expense of returning glass bottles for washing and reuse, when glass recycling works and is much cheaper?

Consider simply the energy use...

Heating up water to high preassure steam to sterilize bottles uses way less energy than it takes to melt glass, keep it at the correct temperature, reform the bottle, letting it cool slowly (to prevent cracking) and steam clean it before filling the new bottle.

If anything we will see a new focus on the "reuse" part of the "reduce, reuse, recyle" process.

There is a reson as to why the verbs in the process are ordered in that way...

The most environmentally friendly action, is to reduce our consumption of materials, if that is not possible, then we should reuse the finnished product for as long as possible, if that is not possible, then we should recycle the materials into a new and better product rather than digging up more materieal.