The Revenue from Metal Cans Enables the U.S. Recycling System to Operate: Both steel food and aluminum beverage cans are a revenue source for recyclers. Cans are light weight and yet they are valuable. Aluminum and steel cans are 6 percent by weight of all recyclable materials generated at single family homes but the metal cans are more than 50 percent of the revenue of those recyclable materials.
Aluminum Beverage Cans are Particularly Valuable: Without the revenue from just used beverage cans (UBC), most material recovery facilities (MRF) in the United States that separate single stream recyclables would not be able to operate. In fact, a third of the revenue for a typical MRF in a non-deposit state comes from UBCs. In total, the 45 billion cans recycled in 2018 were worth $800 million. To further explore the facts around the high value of aluminum beverage cans, view the 2020 report commissioned by CMI.
There is an opportunity to generage more revenue from alumium beverage cans and as a result have a healthier recycling system.
Up to 25 percent of cans are missorted at the MRF into bales of other commodities. It is estimated that a MRF processing 50,000 tons of recyclables per year in a non-deposit law state may be losing up to 275 tons of UBCs per year due to improper sorting.
If these missorted cans were captured, the MRF would see an increase in gross annual revenues of $297,500 in a calendar year. Installing additional aluminum can capture equipment at MRFs can capture many of these missorted cans and pay for themselves in as short as one year via the revenue from the captured cans.
The additional UBCs captured by a medium to large size MRF installing both an additional eddy current system on the MRF’s residue line and a robot on the MRF’s fiber line translates into an increase in annual gross revenues of roughly $170,000. This additional revenue would cover the additional capital cost of the equipment in just over two years.
Below are links to various document that further explain the opportunity to capture more aluminum beverage cans at MRFs and provide additional needed revenue into the recycling system.
- Full Report: Aluminum Beverage Can: Driver of the U.S. Recycling System
- Infographic: Aluminum Beverage Can: Driver of the U.S. Recycling System
- Webinar: How Beverage Cans Can Further Drive the U.S. Recycling System with Additional Can Capture Equipment at Material Recovery Facilities WEBINAR VIDEO | PRESENTATION PDF
- Press Release: New Research Shows Aluminum Beverage Cans Are Essential to Recycling System Economic Viability | Additional Investment to Capture Missorted Cans Generates Needed Revenue and Pays for Itself