Why you should not crush aluminum cans?

Recycling beer cans price

When we are going to throw the cans into the yellow container, many people do not crush them because they believe that it makes recycling more difficult. This question of whether or not to crush the cans or not to do so should be just a mere anecdote if it were not for a more relevant issue for recycling, space.

The most important thing is still to throw these containers in the correct container, the yellow one, and from there it is estimated that it will take about one month to return to the market in the form of a new can.    These metals instead of producing them from scratch means energy savings of between 70% and 90%. On this journey from the yellow container to the melting furnace, the key point occurs on the conveyor belt at the sorting plant, when these cans have to be separated from the rest of the packaging waste.

Beer cans are recyclable

Reusing utensils helps prevent the accumulation of trash and waste of resources. But, as you well know, the amount of waste we generate every day exceeds our possibilities of use. That is to say, there is a limit to the amount of containers we can have at home dedicated to alternative uses. Therefore, there will always be packaging and wrappings to throw away and it is important to know how to do it well.

It is actually very simple, but it is good to know how to do it so that the system works in the best and most efficient way. You know what not to throw away in the yellow garbage can, but do you know what to do with what should be thrown away?

Here we could focus on mineral water bottles, because these containers are the simplest and have the least requirements when it comes to recycling. But we think this is a good time to extend the message to any plastic bottle, whatever it contains.

Remove accessory material as much as possible. It’s not strictly essential, but it helps to remove paper labels attached to bottles, metal grommets (as well as the cap) or any other non-plastic debris.

Crushing cans

Many people, after drinking a soft drink can, crush it with their hands to try to make it take up less space in the garbage bag, but some experts have warned that this practice can be counterproductive when it comes to recycling them.

Although it is usually recommended in the case of plastic bottles, which should be crushed with the cap screwed on, because they are easier to crush, in the case of aluminum cans, as indicated by Popular Science magazine, it makes recycling more difficult.

A completely flattened can, for example, could be classified as paper, thus contaminating the rest of the recycled paper. All this will always depend on the recycling infrastructure used in each municipality.

However, its use is extended to practically all light packaging, despite the fact that it may contain other materials in its composition. This is the case, for example, with metal boxes, lids and caps and aluminum or steel cans.

How to reduce aluminum cans

Have you ever felt the urge to crush soda cans before recycling them? It’s often the instinct most of us have, as it conserves space and is more efficient for recyclers to take them away. Plastic bottles, for example, generally shred better when thrown in trash cans.

Aluminum cans, however, are an exception, as the Popular Science site reported last week. It turns out that if the cans are crushed, it often makes recycling jobs much more difficult.