Spotlight: 

The Can Manufacturers Institute

Lifecycle of a Can

Aluminum cans are a recycling success story. They are the most recycled beverage container in the world. In the US, some 97% are made into new cans in a process that takes less than 60 days. The Can Manufacturers Institute breaks down the process.

Amazingly, 90,000 aluminum beverage cans are recycled every minute in the United States. At the Can Manufacturers Institute, our members are committed to doing even more. Our recycling primer and roadmap demonstrate how we can achieve ambitious targets of a 70% recycling rate by 2030, 80% by 2040, and 90% by 2050.

1. Recycling
The cycle starts here with an empty can you’ve tossed into a recycling bin. 

2. Sorting
Cans are sorted and placed into bales at a materials recovery facility. Each bale weighs roughly 2,200 pounds and contains about 65,000 cans.  

3. Shredding
Bales of cans arrive at an aluminum mill where the cans are shredded into smaller pieces and put through a machine that removes excess plastic, glass, paint and lacquer. What’s left? Aluminum chips. 

4. Melting
Chips are melted in a furnace at 1,200 degrees. 

5. Ingot casting 
The melted chips are poured into a mold and cast into ingots, which weigh 27 tons and are made up of 1.5 million recycled cans. 

6. Rolling
The ingots are rolled out into a can sheet that’s 33,000 feet long, then re-rolled and sent to a can manufacturer.

7. Manufacturing
Can manufacturers use a press to cut the can sheet into shallow cups, which are put through a series of rings to form the can’s iconic shape. The left over materials between the rings are melted down and reused.