Nah, there are a lot of glass and plastic bottles that do get reused a couple of times. You can oftentimes even spot a characteristic ring of scratch marks from the machines that process, clean and refill the bottles.

Typical „Mehrwegflaschen“ are

• Beer bottles (glass)
• Milk bottles (glass)
• Lemonade bottles (glass)
• Water bottles (glass and plastic)
• Coca-Cola/Fanta/Sprite bottles (glass and plastic)
• Yoghurt cups (glass)

There are multiple standardised types and sizes that are used by a multitude of brands. They are not recycled but reused. (Well, they do get recycled, once they are either broken or show heavy signs of use. The „Normbrunnenflasche“, the 0,7L standard bottle for water, for example, gets refilled about 100 times.)

And of course there is the „Pfand“ (deposit) system: Depending on the type of bottle, you usually pay a 8ct or 15ct deposit on the bottles. The system works pretty well.

Of course, there’s also a lot of one way bottles. Those usually have a 25ct deposit and are not reusable but get recycled instead. They’re usually also being brought back to the store, people want their 25ct back after all. (And yes, I know a lot of them aren’t actually recycled but end up at a landfill all the same).

And of course, there are also a lot of glass bottles that are not being reused and instead recycled by default like wine bottles or some non-standard types.