What do you do with cans that recycle?

Answer 1

Did you know that every year around 5 billion aluminum drink cans are sold in the UK? That's a lot of fizzy pop and beer!

Alcan estimates that every household in the UK consumes around 200 aluminum drink cans every year. Each one of these can be recycled back into new drink cans over and over again.

Recycling aluminum cans saves energy and Natural Resources, and also reduces the pressure on landfill sites.

If all the aluminum cans sold were recycled there would be around 14 million fewer dustbins emptied into landfill sites every year!

Aluminium cans that are recycled in the UK are melted down and turned into ingots of aluminum which are used to make new cans. This is called closed loop recycling, because old cans go in and metal to make new cans comes out.

How can you tell if a drink can is made of aluminum?

Around 75% of drink cans are made of aluminum. An easy way to check is to test the side of a can with a magnet - if the magnet doesn't stick it's aluminum. Aluminium cans are lighter than steel and the metal is more shiny - if you compare the base of a steel can to one made of aluminum you can see the difference.

To find out more about aluminum can recycling, click here, and to see the aluminum recycling logo click here.