How are Aluminum Cans Recycled?
- Written By: Y. Chen
- Edited By: O. Wallace
- Last Modified Date: 28 January 2013
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Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
Aluminum can recycling is a notion promoted by people trying to live sustainable lives. Sustainability is the attempt to conserve natural resources and biodiversity by taking on certain lifestyle habits and the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Aluminum is one of those natural resources, and is considered the most abundant metal on earth. An empty aluminum can is worth about a penny (US), and over fifty percent of aluminum cans produced are still being recycled. Due to advances in technology, aluminum can recycling has become more efficient and convenient.
Much like glass recycling, aluminum can recycling is a cyclical process that begins once consumers toss aluminum cans into their curbside recycling bins, where it is picked up and shipped off to the recycling plant. In the United States, aluminum can recycling has been an effective; approximately two out of three cans produced there make it to local recycling centers. Upon collection at regional scrap processing plants, the cans are compacted into dense briquettes or bales. These masses can range anywhere from thirty to twelve hundred pounds (13.6 to 544 kilograms), and are shipped off to aluminum companies for melting into new cans.
In the next step of the aluminum can recycling process, the compacted masses of cans are first stripped of any superfluous layers on the inside or outside of the product container through a burning process. Then they are shredded and crushed into wood chip-sized pieces of aluminum. The pieces are piled into a melting furnace, which combines the recycled metal with new, pure pieces of aluminum.
Once in a molten state, the aluminum is poured into enormously heavy ingots, where the metal is rolled into sheets that are one-hundredth of an inch (.254 millimeters) thick, via the rolling mill. The sheets are then removed, coiled, and shipped to can makers. At this point, the aluminum can recycling process is complete. The can makers produce the can bodies and lids that are passed on to beverage companies that fill the cans with their product. The finished products ultimately end up in grocery store shelves. Aluminum can recycling is a process with a time span that lasts as little as sixty days from start to finish.
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anon316441
Post 30 |
@Anon3863: I suspect that the effect on the environment is in no way more dramatic than manufacturing strictly from ore. Did you know that a single aluminum can is said to, when recycled, save about as much oil as could be poured into it to fill it up? Well, thanks for reading anyway.
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anon158022
Post 28 |
This is really helpful for my project. |
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anon156150
Post 27 |
how about the can tabs/. do you buy them as well? |
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anon139313
Post 26 |
thanks for this article. it helped a lot in our research concerning about making an aluminum can crusher using a fluid power technology. from Philippines. Thanks! |
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anon129204
Post 25 |
Thank you for the article. I was wondering if the effects of recycling aluminum is costly. Using all the machinery must cost alot to do, is this the right method to be using? i also wondered why, in the cost matter, steel metals cost more to recycle. Thank you. Sorry if i have inconvenienced you. |
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anon111055
Post 23 |
Thank you for the info. now i can actually start my project.
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anon86405
Post 22 |
I live in South Africa, and I would just like to say thanks! I have an enormous project to hand in and your site saved my life! Thanks again, all the way from South Africa! |
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anon80195
Post 21 |
i used to think this stuff was boring but when i read it it turned out to be really interesting and it will definitely help with my earth day project. thanks! |
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anon72404
Post 18 |
cool. |
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anon57267
Post 14 |
Aluminum cans are drawn from a single [small] ingot, not from sheet metal. Notice how there is no seam in an aluminum can. The tops however are made from sheet metal in a progressive die. |
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anon52653
Post 11 |
Thanks for the info. it helped me out a lot. |
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anon45470
Post 9 |
thanks for the info. |
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anon44548
Post 8 |
This article helped me a lot with a school project. Cool! |
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anon38145
Post 7 |
Dear anon8710 its not that cool! From me |
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anon36859
Post 6 |
As I walk through the woods or jog along the roads, I carry a plastic bag and pick up cans (crushing them to minimize space) and sometimes plastic/glass bottles (space permitting and not going far) for recycling. I started noticing other metals that had been dumped in the woods and periodically make forays to gather scrap aluminum, copper, and brass that has been dumped. This often involves disassembly, but I do it. The river is another source of scrap. Recently I found a 22 pound piece of brass that should sell for $22 at current local scrap prices! |
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anon16321
Post 4 |
My 9 and 6 year-old granddaughters have discovered recycling aluminum cans can be profitable. They saved cans from their parents and also picked up cans in the neighborhood. Their first sale was over $45! Now they are recycling with a new fervor. They are using their can money to purchase items for the care boxes they are sending their soldier pen pal in Iraq. |
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anon8710
Post 2 |
im at school right now and today we just learned about aluminum recycling.......so ya how c-o-o-l is that?!?!?!? :) |
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anon3863
Post 1 |
I've read from several sources that the cans are burned to remove the labels, but what affect does this process have on the environment? |
