2019 Recycling Industry Yearbook

Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. 24 THE ALUMINUM RECYCLING PROCESS Here’s how aluminum beverage containers are recycled into new cans. START Empty cans are collected and sold to a recycler. The recycler presses hundreds of cans together to make bales, weighing about 1000 pounds. The bales are melted to make large aluminum. sheets of aluminum are sent to a can factory. The can factory makes new cans from the recycled aluminum. Your new can completes the recycling journey. Your favorite beverage arrives in a new can made from this process. Aluminum