When you next hold the soda can you should stop and consider for a moment what the location of that aluminum bottle was. 75% of the aluminum ever manufactured is still being used. This means that your soda bottle has a story to tell to tell. Aluminum cans are 100percent recyclable. This is significantly better than the recyclable properties of paper and plastic. For instance the plastics are generally “down-cycled” into other products like carpet fiber or landfill liners. Additionally, a majority of paper and cardboard products cannot be recycled due to remnants on the product that cannot be removed. Aluminum cans however are able to be reused in the benefit of endless reuse with absolutely no structural damage.
In order to recycle an aluminum can to reuse it, it goes through a lengthy and complicated procedure. This involves creating the metal, creating the can out of it, then then putting the aluminum in an aluminum container. Only after having completed all of these steps will the aluminum be reused to be reused. In the next section, we’ll go over the background of aluminum, its manufacturing process, and the subsequent reproduction, as well as the way General Kinematics can help you with the recycling process.
The History of the Aluminum Can
Aluminum cans began production after the end in World War II. The US sent millions of cans of beer, which were made and packaged into steel containers. After the WWII, the soldiers were drawn to the nostalgia of the steel can , which kept them popular. The steel can was used up until 1958, when an aluminum-based can first was manufactured. Between 1958 and 1967, a hybrid container was designed, which included the steel can with an aluminum top or a variant of this kind. In 1967, Coke and Pepsi were using aluminum cans for their soft drinks production. Nowadays it is estimated that there are United States uses about 100 billion cans each year, which is approximately 1 can per day per American. Aluminum cans have gained in popularity because of their effectiveness and the ability to reuse them. Below, we’ll look at the making of an Aluminium can factory and the ways it can be used repeatedly to conserve energy.
Gathering Resources to Form Aluminum
New aluminum is made by bauxite ore that is typically found within Africa, Oceania, and South America. After being strip-mined Bauxite is chemically processed, and transformed into alumina which is also known as aluminum oxide. After that, alumina melts into pure aluminum. The aluminum is then rolled into thin sheets of steel which can be cut into various new products.
Although aluminum is a long-lasting and highly recyclable material, energy is still utilized to create and recycle it. Manufacturing is about one quarter of an aluminum container’s total energy usage throughout its lifespan. But, because aluminum is recyclable in all ways and will not lose its properties and properties, it is more than compensates for its costs, particularly when it’s made of recycled cans, rather than pure metal.
Manufacturing Cans
After the aluminum sheets arrive at a plant for manufacturing and are then utilized to create new cans. The aluminum sheets are fed through an automated press machine that forms the shape. Other machines modify and refine the form by thinning the walls and making the bottom and cutting off any excess. After the cans have been cleaned and ready in order to use them commercially, they are able to be printed with corporate brands images, logos, and designs.
Then, the cans are varnished and then coated using protective coats. They’re then shaped in a way that allows storage and stacking. The cans are checked for any imperfections before they are packed to be shipped to beverage firms. More info: www.hh-tinbox.com
Recycling and Consumer Use
When beverage companies fill and distribute their canned goods and sell them, they are available to purchase. Customers drink their drinks and then either dispose of them or reuse the container. The amount of cans that were disposed of in the garbage in 2019 was staggering 50 billion cans. That is a total of 810 million dollars in lost recycled aluminum. If they’re recycled aluminum cans, they are sent through scrap-metal facilities which will then melt them down to be reused. The melted version of recycled aluminum goes through the exact manufacturing processes that it first went through. This is referred to as secondary production of aluminum that is raw, while the process of making new aluminum from bauxite ore can be known as primary production. Since secondary production is able to be repeated because of the properties of aluminum, an old can be reused and be ready for use by consumers within 60 days. Recycling cans also will save you around 95% of energy needed to produce new cans using primary production. It’s 14,000 kilowatts per one tonne of electricity. If all cans were reused the amount of energy saved could suffice to supply electricity to 4.1 million houses for a whole year.