Coastal Environmental Partnership

Monday, August 21, 2017

Aluminum is infinitely recyclable

What is it used for?

Beverage cans, pet food cans, aerosol cans, aluminum foil, and cookware.

Why it wants to be recycled.

Aluminum is infinitely recyclable. Recycling prevents the need to extract raw materials, saves significant amounts of energy and keeps greenhouse gas emissions from being generated. Recycling a can takes only 5% of the energy and emits only 5% of the greenhouse gases as producing a can from raw material.

How to recycle it?

Curbside, school, work, or public space recycling bins, or at local recycling drop-off or buy-back centers. In some states, beverage cans are returnable to the retail outlet or other redemption center for a refund on the deposit paid when the beverage was purchased.

What does recycled aluminum become?

Recycled aluminum is refined and melted into ingots – which are very large blocks of metal. Aluminum’s recycling journey begins when it is collected, crushed and then cut into chips that are fed into a furnace to remove paint and coatings. The chip pieces are then melted and formed into the blocks of aluminum. The aluminum blocks are rolled into sheets which are sent to manufacturers to make new cans. One of these blocks contains enough aluminum to make 1.3 million new cans. A can’s journey from the recycling bin through the recycling process and back to store shelves takes less than 60 days. Today’s aluminum cans have an average of 68% recycled content.