Recycling Aluminum Cans & The Can Man

I got the information for this article through various articles online, but I'll provide a link to the website when using direct quotes. (:


          So, Pros and Cons of Recycling Aluminum Cans. We've all done it or most of us know someone who does it. I even remember my parents doing it when I was younger and my husband's mother does it. While we don't recycle our cans ourselves, there's a man who stands at the corner of my husband's job most days (the ENTIRE day), begging. He doesn't accept money from anyone, only aluminum cans. Everyone who knows him refers to him as "The Can Man." I don't have permission to share his name here, so I'll be leaving that out. Just about every day that my husband goes to work, he sees the Can Man standing on the corner. He can't stay ON Walmart property doing it, but he can stand by the street.

          I've never put much thought into recycling cans for myself since it's never seemed worth the effort.  At $0.25-$0.35 for one pound of aluminum, it's never seemed worth it to me and I've never put much research into it. I've always tossed my cans into the garbage (I know, I'm sorry), and gone on with my day. Seeing someone actively do this almost every day though has made me think a lot about it.

          From what I've read, there aren't really any cons to recycling your aluminum cans. Technically using a reusable  container would be best, but recycling aluminum is actually better than digging up new minerals.

Purple soda can image borrowed from Google Images. Artist: defenderofmen.deviantart.com
Light bulb image gotten from Google Images, no found artist.
Recycling Logo gotten from Google Images, no found artist.

          Each year there's roughly 1.9 millions tons of aluminum used in the U.S. I'm not sure about other countries, but I did only look up the statistics for the U.S. since that is where I've lived all my life. To borrow a quote from sciencing.com (Definitely check their website out!)

""Aluminum is produced by refining a mineral called bauxite which contains a chemical called alumina with the formula Al2O3. Refineries separate the aluminum from the oxygen by combining it with another mineral called cryolite, melting it at a temperature of 950 degrees Celsius (1742 degrees Fahrenheit) and forcing an electric current through the molten aluminum with graphite electrodes. This process consumes an enormous amount of electricity. An aluminum can, by contrast, is already made of refined aluminum, so it's relatively easy to melt it and process it for making another can. Recycling aluminum requires just 5 percent of the electric energy required to make a virgin product.""

          Using only five percent the electric energy required to make a new product makes recycling your aluminum cans entirely worth it. 

          Using new product takes about 1,740 gallons of gasoline to produce a single ton of raw aluminum. This not only uses that much gasoline but also releases a ton of greenhouse gases. Recycling your cans, however, uses only about 90 gallons or the equivalent in fossil fuels. That's a significant difference.

         Aluminum cans are actually the easiest to recycle because recycled aluminum is cheaper than new product, which makes manufacturers super stoked to buy it. The money spent by the aluminum industries on recycled product benefits not only the local recycling centers and their programs, but also the cities that run them. And since aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, it can be used to make another can an unlimited number of times.

          If you're like us, there's never time to take your cans down to the recycling center. Working long hours, three dogs, donations to the BPL plasma center... There's never enough time. But if you're lucky enough, you'll find someone who needs your cans like our local Can Man. Even though we don't have the time to take them to the center ourselves, it's easy to find another trash can, toss in a bag, and rinse out cans before tossing them in. When a bag is full, my husband takes it to work with him and gives it to Can man. 

             All in all, Can Man has the right idea. Recycling your aluminum cans is the way to go. While it'd be better still to have a reusable container, don't feel bad for continuing to buy that Cherry Vanilla Pepsi (cough cough) or canned ravioli (more coughing).