With funding from Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings, the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is taking a comprehensive approach to spurring the installation of additional can capture equipment in material recovery facilities (MRFs). It started with foundational research in 2020, a grant program with The Recycling Partnership in 2021, tools for MRF operators in 2022, additional grant and new revenue share financing options in 2023-2025. See below for more information. MRF operators interested in having testing done at their facility or financing options from CMI should reach out to Roxanne Sharif, CMI’s Director of Sustainability, at rsharif@cancentral.com.
2025 Can Capture Grants and Financing with Revenue Sharing
10.7.2025 Press Release: Aluminum Can Capture Equipment to Collect More Than 3 Million Used Beverage Cans Per Year and Pay for Itself
First Star Recycling, Omaha, Nebraska installed new sorting equipment estimated to capture more than three million used beverage cans (UBC) a year that are missorted at its material recovery facility (MRF). CMI has leveraged this high economic value of UBCs to finance can capture equipment while making some or all the money back from the recipient providing a share of the revenue generated from the cans captured.
2.13.25 Press Release: Recycling Grants Result in More Than 31 Million Aluminum Beverage Cans Captured Annually
Thanks to grants funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings (Crown), material recovery facilities (MRFs) in Alabama and California now have equipment that are estimated to capture more than 31 million aluminum beverage cans annually for recycling that otherwise likely would have been missorted or sent to landfill. These are the seventh and eighth grants that AMP and Crown have financed in Can Manufacturers Institute’s (CMI) MRF can capture program. Collectively, this investment has funded equipment that will capture nearly 150 million aluminum beverage cans annually.
2024 Financing with Revenue Sharing
5.16.24 Press Release: LRS Advances Aluminum Can Recovery with EverestLabs Robot, Funded by Can Manufacturers Institute
EverestLabs, developer of RecycleOS, the first AI-enabled operating system for material recovery facilities (MRFs) and recyclers, today announced its partnership with LRS, the nation’s fifth largest independent waste diversion, recycling and portable services provider. With funding support from CMI members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings, LRS installed EverestLabs’ RecycleOS material sorting robot in its newly opened MRF, The Exchange, on the residual line to help increase revenue and ensure maximum efficiency, recovery, and recycling of used beverage cans (UBCs). The EverestLabs robot assists in LRS maintaining quality control for over 350,000 pounds of recycled aluminum each month at The Exchange, which equates to approximately 12 million aluminum beverage cans.
2023 Financing with Revenue Sharing & Grants
2023 Revenue Sharing
12.13.23 Waste Dive Article: California MRF says robotics profit-sharing model shows early success
9.26.2023 Press Release Robot Funded by Can Manufacturers Institute to Save More Than 1 Million Aluminum Beverage Cans Annually from Landfill
2023 Grants
10.26.23 Press Release: Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings Fund Two Additional Recycling Facility Grants for Can Capture Equipment
5.4.23 Press Release: Aluminum Beverage Can Manufacturers Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings Fund Additional Can Capture Grants at Recycling Sortation Facilities
2022 Testing & Tools
2021 Grants
- 12.14.21 Press Release: Texas Recycling Facility Fifth Recipient of Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant Program Funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings
- 11.8.21 Press Release: Milwaukee Area Recycling Facility Latest Recipient of Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant Program Funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings
- 8.18.21 Press Release: Recycling Facility in Florida Latest Recipient of Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant Program Funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings
- 4.13.21 Press Release: Recycling Facilities in North Carolina and Texas Are Initial Recipients of Can Manufacturers Institute’s Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant Program
- 1.27.21 Press Release: Request for Proposals Released for Can Manufacturers Institute’s Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant Program
2020 Research
A study conducted by Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc. (GBB) for CMI, Aluminum Beverage Can: Driver of the U.S. Recycling System, found that the relatively high value of used beverage cans (UBCs) make them essential to the country’s network of MRFs. In fact, the report found that without the revenue from UBCs, most MRFs in the United States would not be able to operate without making significant changes that would ultimately affect the cost of recycling to consumers. Still, the report also found that up to 25 percent of UBCs are missorted at a typical MRF, which do the important job of sorting single stream recyclables. This can missortation finding was a primary motivator for the grants, leases, tools, and other aspects of the effort to spur the installation of additional can capture equipment in MRFs.
- 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
- Grant Program Announcement: Can Manufacturers Institute, Ardagh Group and Crown Holdings Offer 2021 Grants for Aluminum Can Recycling
- Examples of MRF’s Who Have Successfully Added Aluminum Can Capture Equipment
Cans Drive Recycling Webinar
Quotes from the Cans Drive Recycling Webinar
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: info@cancentral.com