I prefer glass for most things. Doesn't leach, preserves taste better, etc. The problem is recycling. It's very difficult to find recycling around here so I end up with huge boxes of glass bottles, which I have to then take to a centralized location. Makes me absolutely sick the amount of glass that goes right into the landfill. Ever see the dumpster of a busy bar? A ton of broken bottles. People want to save the environment, fine businesses like bars for not recycling. Recycling should be mandatory for such places. I think it's critical to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as feasible and viable. Even better, save your recyclables pile, save your dirty dishwater, and use it to wash out your recyclables before dumping the water down the drain. Double benefit.
Glass can be ground up into sand-like grains of silica, and then repurposed. I've even seen examples of beach sand, that is ground up glass. Some are "colored" sand. Pretty cool.
Not soda, but I tend to keep a lot of the nice mason type jars (e.g. spaghetti sauce) for a variety of jar-related needs. Cooking needs, sorting random fasteners, etc.
Plastic and aluminum OTOH are picked up curbside here. I think there are programs where volunteers or inmates sort and clean recyclables for processing.