The Journey of a Recycled Aluminium Can
Launch library · evergreen read
Once collected, aluminium cans are shredded into small pieces and any coatings, such as paint or printed labels, are removed through a combination of heat and mechanical processing. The shredded metal is then melted down in a furnace, a process that uses only a fraction of the energy needed to produce new aluminium from raw ore.
The molten aluminium is cast into large ingots, which are then rolled into thin sheets. Because aluminium does not lose quality through repeated melting, these sheets can be formed into new cans using the same processes as cans made from freshly mined material, with no practical difference in the finished product.
This efficiency is why aluminium is often highlighted as a genuine recycling success story: a can returned to the supply chain can realistically be back on a shelf as a new can within a matter of weeks, a much faster and less energy intensive loop than most other recyclable materials achieve.