Cans Most Likely to be Recycled By Public
In analysis of what items are most often brought in to recycling centers, cans take the top spot. Plastics tend to come in second. The recycling of both has been cited as prolonging the life spans of numerous landfills since these two materials still make up a significant portion of the trash that was thrown into such waste heaps, but to the degree they once did.
More and more public spaces will have a trash receptacle of some sort labeled “aluminum cans.” These are appearing at ball parks, public parks, and any place where large numbers of people are expected to gather. The practice has even begun to carry over into private households. It is now considered fashionable to set out a trashcan at a party with a label indicating this is where partygoers should place all their empty cans.
Both cans and plastics start off in the recycling process at the same point. They are collected in a waste receptacle at a collection or drop off site. The plastics however require more extensive sorting than do the aluminum cans.
It is estimated that plastics of various sorts occupy 12% of the space in a typical landfill. This amounts to around thirty million tons a year in the U.S. Only around 7% of the plastic produced in the U.S.ends up being recycled according to figures from the EPA. The plastic items which are most likely to be recycled are bottles and jars.
Aluminum cans by contrast constitute around 14% of municipal wastes. Most of this will consist of aluminum cans and containers so a lot more can be done to recycle
these products. It is mainly a manner of setting more trash cans out for this purpose and encouraging people to use them whenever they have a can to dispose of.
Half of All Cans on a Second Run
According to recent figures, half of all the cans used in the U.S.are now manufactures from recycled aluminum products and most of that consists of cans. There is a 95% reduction of energy output obtained by recycling cans in this fashion over what it would take to make them from scratch. For plastics, the energy reduction amounts to 70%.
Aluminum cans are sorted in resorting plants to separate them from other sorts of containers. They are cleansed of dirt and melted into large aluminum blocks called ingots. These are then sent to manufacturers who turn them into new cans.
Because there are so many different types of plastic with different sorts of content, recycling requires a more extensive sorting process to arrange similar materials. Many plastic products will have the resin code imprinted along the bottom of the container or other product. This allows workers to find like types. Machines will then grind the plastic into flakes that are then immersed in a flotation tank that removes impurities. Once the flakes are thoroughly dried, they are melted into pellets. These pellets can then be melted again and shaped into new products.