Mateo Jarquin
It wasn't until the 1930’s that aluminum cans became popularized. However, it's probably hard to imagine drinking your favorite sodas out of anything but a standard aluminum can. From a business standpoint, the switch to aluminum cans made sense. The companies using them would be able to produce cans for cheaper than glass bottles, meaning they could also make it less expensive on the consumer's side. Besides, they are recyclable too. Some companies even go as far as to give you a few cents in return for a can. But if you’re someone who thinks like me, then you too have probably wondered how cans like these are capable of being repurposed back into our everyday lives. Which is exactly why I’ve made it my goal to find out precisely what happens to these cans once recycled, as well as why corporations pay for you to return them.
First of all, where do these aluminum cans go once recycled? Well, once the recycling is collected, it's actually brought to a recycling centre/warehouse. In which tons of recyclables are dropped off by truck every day to be put through a large sorting mechanism capable of separating objects by their materials. After this is done, a hydraulic press is then used to condense the material into large blocks called bales. One bale is said to weigh from 1000 to 1500 ponds. But this still doesn’t explain why exactly a company would pay for people to return their own. Which conveniently brings us to the next step in this recycling process, reselling. In which the previously mentioned bales get sold. Bales of aluminum, as an example, might even sell for up to eight hundred dollars. This is all because while aluminum may not be too hard to find, it is incredibly difficult to extract. Which is why it's much more preferable to buy, clean, and process the cans off you for a few cents. Than to extract brand new aluminum from the ground for hundreds of dollars.
Now then, this still begs the question, what happens to the recycled aluminum? Well, as a matter of fact, most of the time it gets turned right back into new cans. Which can then be cleaned, processed, filled, and back on shelves within six weeks! Now, I know that turning cans into cans may not have been the exciting answer you were looking for. But from an environmental perspective, this is actually amazing for the environment. This process of recycling rather than extracting saves a lot more energy which is a vital step in our fight to end climate change. To put it into perspective, the same amount of energy is needed to create one new aluminum can, as it is to make twenty recycled aluminum cans.
Places like Quebec have also come to realize the benefits of recycling cans. Which is why a new system being implemented by Recyc-Quebec aims to have up to 1000 collection sites around the province. What’s unfortunate, however, is that many perfectly recyclable aluminum cans still end up in the garbage. What’s even more unfortunate is that a large number of schools don’t actually recycle cans, only paper. Which is why the student council here at Alexander Galt has taken it upon themselves to provide a recycling bin in the cafeteria specifically for aluminum cans. This is of course completely optional, but if you ever find yourself with a can of soda, ice tea, or any other drink of your choice, consider stopping by the cafeteria. Because every can has the chance to be repurposed and reused, rather than ending up in landfills, where they will not degrade for another eighty to one hundred years. Which is why if we all do our part at Alexander Galt, and recycle our cans properly, we have the potential to make a difference.
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