The main objective of this study was to explore the potential effectiveness of using recycled plastic bottles as a material for roadside crash-barriers. A test program was conducted to compile data on the energy-absorbing potential of commonly available plastic bottles. The main and secondary factors in plastic bottle energy-absorption were identified and orthogonal arrays were used to define the test matrix, thereby avoiding the full factorial number of experiments. The results of the study were energy-absorption data for a range of commercially available plastic bottles. The data are for various filler materials and two loading directions on the bottles. Analysis-of-variance was used to identify the most significant factors in energy absorption. The main conclusion of the study was that commercially available plastic bottles, when filled with the appropriate filler materials, are capable of absorbing significant amounts of crush energy. The main recommendation was that the economic feasibility of recycled plastic bottles in various types of crash barriers be explored, including more efficient or more practical filler materials.