If by sent back you mean crushed then yeah sure bottles are reused. Oregon for example breaks the bottles when you return them to prevent fraud.
You’re misrepresenting the price substantially – that’s 5 times what Whole Foods charges and while they’re upscale they’re more mainstream than boutique these days.
https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/homestead-creamery-...
https://www.bottledropcenters.com/buy-refillable-containers/
Found a video of the same machine, you can hear the bottle breaking https://youtu.be/1wwmqmxdlSw?t=27
Quick edit: Looks like Tomra does make machines that keep the bottles intact.