Aluminum's inherent environmentally friendly attributes make it an essential part of sustainability strategy.
FREMONT, CA: Beverage cans contain more recycled material than any other container on earth, the most recycled container. Aluminum gives the greatest economic value among competing materials. Aluminum is available in 80 percent of its original form today, which is not surprising given these advantages. A distinguishing characteristic of cans is that they are not only recyclable in theory but also recycled in practice. Globally, consumers recycle aluminum cans at an average rate of 69 percent, which is more than double the rate at which they recycle plastic bottles. In Europe, recycling rates approach 76 percent, although, in Brazil, recycling rates remain substantially higher than those of other substrates at nearly 100 percent. Yet, consumers frequently need access to public and private recycling infrastructure and must be made aware of correct recycling procedures or assume their recovered goods still wind up in landfills. Therefore, many individuals need to recycle properly, preventing metal from attaining its full recycling potential, notably in the United States.
Here's how recycling works:
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A material recovery facility sorts and bales cans (MRF). In MRFs, all single-stream recyclables are separated. Typically, they are separated using an eddy current and packaged for shipping to an aluminum recycler. Each UBC cube weighs approximately 2,200 pounds and includes approximately 65,000 cans.
Bales of used beverage cans (UBCs) arrive at an aluminum plant. The Southeast is home to many aluminum mills specializing in melting UBCs to produce can sheets for new cans. Melting UBCs is underway. At the mill, the cans are shredded into smaller pieces to extract the non-aluminum components more easily. The shredded debris then passes through an optical sorter, separating the non-metal and blasting away any plastic or glass. A magnet also removes the steel from it. This process burns away paint and lacquer, leaving only aluminum chips behind.
A can sheet is created by melting aluminum chips. Aluminum is melted in furnaces over 1200 degrees Fahrenheit so that it may flow into a mold and be cast into a towering block called an ingot. Each ingot is composed of 1.5 million recycled cans and weighs 27 tons. The ingots are then transported to a rolling mill, heated to about 1000 degrees Fahrenheit in another furnace.
The rolling back and forth loosens the bonds, producing a can sheet approximately 33,000 feet long. The sheet is subsequently rolled and supplied to a maker of cans.
The maker of cans transforms the aluminum sheet into new cans. The cans manufacturer unrolls the can sheet and feeds it into a cupping press, rapidly cutting shallow cups from the sheet. After cutting off the cups, the leftover scrap is returned to the aluminum mill to be recycled. A series of narrow rings force shallow cups into the can's distinctive cylindrical shape. The aluminum can is ready for filling, consumption, and subsequent recycling.
Metal has no limits on recycling or reproduction, so its future availability is based almost entirely on how efficiently it is captured and utilized. For this reason, recycling companies are taking a more active role in directing the material through their closed-loop system repeatedly.
