Wife buys a lot of stuff at the supermarket that comes in jars or bottles that are designed to be thrown away when they are empty.
As a matter of principle, and having a frugal upbringing, I have long believed that it is better to reuse those containers rather than buying new containers. So the finishing material in my shop are all in recycled containers. Most are plastic (safer in a shop with a concrete floor), but I do prefer glass for some things.
Yes, occasionally a bottle will reach the end of its useful life and need to be thrown out. But I don't feel at all guilty about that if I've been able to extend its usefulness by a few years. A common example is that I mix my own Danish Oil from the bulk constituents - oil (I prefer Tung oil), solvent (Turpentine), and a commercial alykd varnish. This is stored in a small recycled glass spice jar. Because the jar is small (less than 100ml), the finish tends to get used before it spoils, and the bulk constituents last longer in their original containers. But eventually, a ring of dried finish builds up around the top of the jar. When it gets to the point where that ring interferes with screwing on the plastic closure, I dispose of the jar - but it the process the usefullness of that jar has been extended by several years.
I am careful to remove the original food labels, and I always mark the containers to clearly indicate the new contents. And when our children were small enough to worry about such things, the bottles were kept in a locked room.
