Tin and Can Recycling

Steel and aluminium are common metals used in the UK

They help to can foods and drinks that we use as part of our everyday lives. Drink cans are usually made from aluminium, and food cans are usually made from steel. Metals are a brilliant material to recycle as they can be reprocessed over and over again, saving energy, raw materials and waste.

Recycling old metals into new metal objects:

• Used cans are collected from a can bank or from your kerbside collection.
• The cans are taken to a sorting facility where aluminium cans and steel cans are separated. Steel is easy to pull out of the domestic waste stream because it’s magnetic whereas aluminium cans are sorted by eddy currents (energy field).
• The aluminium and steel are then collected and taken to different treatment plants.
• In the treatment plants the metals are cleaned ready for reprocessing.
• The metals go through a re-melt process; this removes the coatings and inks on the cans.
• Large blocks of metal are then re-formed each containing about 1.6 million cans.
• The metal blocks are then sent on to mills where they are rolled out - this gives the aluminium greater flexibility and strength.
• The blocks are then made into new aluminium and steel products.

Uses for recycled metals:

Recycled aluminium and steel can be made into a variety of new objects including:

• Aluminum - new car and plane parts, chocolate wrappings, cans.
• Steel - bicycles, pipes, train tracks, supertankers, food tins.

Facts about metal recycling:

• In as little as 6 weeks, the recycled metal products are then sent back to the shops ready to be used again.
• You can test which metal your waste is by using a magnet. Aluminium metal is non-magnetic whereas steel is magnetic.
• If all the aluminium drinks cans sold in the UK were recycled, there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins per year (source: www.alupro.org.uk)
• Recycling aluminium only requires 5% of the energy it would take to make new aluminium products – and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions.
• Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed for steel made from virgin material.

What you can do:

• Try and make sure food and drinks cans are empty before recycling.
• Aerosol containers can be recycled, but only when they are completely empty.

For information about your nearest can bank, or any kerbside scheme operating in your part of the county please follow the links.