How Is Aluminum Recycled?
Collection
The most common type of aluminum recycling is that of aluminum cans. In the United States, two out of every three cans produced are recycled. Before the cans can be recycled, they must be collected. In some communities this is done by curbside pick up. Recycling trucks come an collect the cans and take them to a salvage facility. In other places individual consumers and businesses save or gather cans and then take them to a salvage facility. Some vending machines are even able to accept empty cans for recycling. The salvage companies crush the cans into blocks of various sizes for shipment to aluminum companies.
Cleaning and Melting
At the aluminum company, a burning process is used to remove anything from the cans that is not aluminum, such as inks, dyes and liners. Clean cans are run through a shredder that reduces the aluminum into small pieces. These small aluminum scraps are then placed in a furnace where they are melted down and combined with brand new aluminum.
Cooling, Flattening, and Coiling
The molten aluminum, now consisting of both new and recycled metal, is poured into huge ingots, or blocks. These metal blocks are then fed into a mill that flattens them into sheets that are only 1/100 of an inch thick. The sheets are then rolled into coils so they an be shipped to can manufacturers.
Filling New Cans
Manufacturers make new cans from the coils of aluminum they receive from the aluminum company. These new cans are then sent to beverage makers who fill them and send them to grocery stores, corner markets, and vending machines around the nation. There the beverages can be purchased and consumed so that the can may be recycled anew, a process that can take as few as 60 days.
