The German system has interesting side effects: If you litter, a homeless person will soon pick it up, making this double as an additional social system with a built-in needs test. However, a downside is that if you know you won't be returning it, it's actually cheaper to buy and trash a reusable bottle because the deposit on a reusable beer bottle is 8 cents, vs. 25 cents on a can. The production cost for the bottle is around 35 cents I think.
The deposit was introduced as a punitive measure for the industry for failing to keep the percentage of drinks sold in reusable bottles high enough. As soon as the barrier was broken and the threat/incentive gone, glass bottles almost disappeared for anything except beer (and maybe some mineral water).
Even with one of the main benefits (easy disposal) removed - since you can't crush the bottles before returning them and have to drag them back to a store - they are much more popular than glass because unless you go shopping with a car (uncommon in cities in Germany), having to carry twice as much weight (and then drag the heavy packaging back) matters.