Re: Repair != Green
" Recycling glass bottles, however, is sheer environmental vandalism."
Real engineer here. Recycling glass bottles is actually better for the environment than producing new glass. Smelting glass is SERIOUSLY energy intensive. It's a long and involved process and requires very clean ingredients which in turn also cost a lot of energy to produce. (It's not just dumping a load of beach sand into a furnace). Glass barely degrades from being recycled though achieving the needed color can be a bit tricky. Clear glass is pretty much always new, as it's nearly impossible to keep contaminants out of recycled glass and the slightest shard of tinted glass will give a tinted hue to an entire batch.
Aluminium is another product that is highly recyclable.
Batteries (any variety) are actually far less gainful to recycle than bulk materials like glass or metals.