A shatter-resistant reusable glass water bottle is helping consumers turn their back on plastic.

The shatter resistant bottles (pictured) are encased in a see-through coating, which holds the bottle in place if it cracks.

The reusable bottle has helped glass make a comeback. The danger of broken glass had prompted gyms, yoga studios and other places to ban glass bottles.

But Walt Himelstein, the developer of the Pure shatter-resistant bottle, is hoping to change those policies. Reusable glass water bottles typically use a plastic sleeve for protection. The sleeves on most models have holes that allow the contents of a bottle to be seen but through which broken glass can escape.

Himelstein worked with glass coatings as an environmental chemist at General Physics Corporation in Maryland, US. He wondered if he could find something similar that would protect consumers from being cut when a reusable glass bottle broke.

After two years he had a product he could market but the next obstacle was finding someone to sell them.

Meeting with Marc Heinke, CEO of Precidio Design, a Canadian company whose primary business was making melamine tableware, was the solution. Himelstein and Heinke are now working on plans to expand sales of the Pure bottle.

In a survey of more than 4000 consumers this year by EcoFocus Worldwide, a research and consulting group, 37% said they were extremely or very concerned about the health and safety of plastics used in food and water packaging, compared to 33% in 2010.

EcoFocus also found that 59% of the consumers it surveyed used reusable water bottles always or often, up from 56% in 2010. In a smaller survey of about 2600 people, 42% said they had stopped drinking water from plastic bottles or were drinking it less often.