Step away from the boxed wine. Put down that wine in a pouch. Place the plastic wine bottle back on the shelf. Now do yourself and the environment a favor and purchase your wine in a glass bottle.

If you haven’t noticed, wines in alternative packaging, like boxes, plastic pouches and PET (plastic) bottles, seem to be gaining popularity and taking up a bit more shelf space.

Before your next wine purchase, consider this:

Taste: Glass is virtually impermeable, non-porous and odorless, qualities that allow it to best protect the purity, flavor and taste of wines, particularly as they age. In a previous blog, we highlighted a study done on wine packaging that found opting for glass-bottled wine preserved the taste of your wine for longer. In glass, some wines can maintain the taste for half-a-century or longer, whereas in PET or Bag-in-Box containers, wine is only good for a few months.

Environment: Glass containers are 100 percent recyclable and can be continuously used to make new products; many find their way back to shelves in about 30 days. Recycling glass reduces consumption of raw materials, reduces CO2 emissions and saves energy. Unlike glass, Bag-in-Box and PET containers are made of materials that cannot be recycled, but rather, can only be incinerated or “downcycled” into other products that may end up in landfills or in our oceans.

Price: Wine in glass bottles sometimes has the reputation of being an expensive drink for a casual dinner, but great wine can be more affordable than expected. Before shopping for wine, try following wine blogs and wine lists to give you a good idea of which regions had a good year and to find the best bargains. You will be surprised at the great wines you can find for under $10.