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ALUMINIUM AND STEEL CANS
The production of aluminium is very expensive, and extremely damaging
to the environment. To make aluminium, an ore called bauxite must
first be mined. The main sources of bauxite are in Australia, Brazil,
Jamaica, South Africa and China.
Once it has been mined, the bauxite is transported to a factory
where it undergoes many processes to produce aluminium – these
use vast quantities of energy as electricity is needed, and produce
large amount of pollution. For each tonne of aluminium produced,
four tonnes of bauxite is needed. Only now is it ready to be made
into products such as drinks cans and foil. Usually, it will be
transported again for this to happen.
Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, as the process does not
affect the quality of the metal. It takes approximately 8 weeks
for an aluminium can to be recycled and be back on the shop shelf
filled with new drink, from when it was put in the recycling bin.
Just over half of the aluminium used to make drinks cans is currently
from recycled cans.
Aluminium foil can also be recycled, although it is slightly different
in composition to aluminium cans. Things like kitchen foil, fast
food trays, milk bottle tops and pie trays can all be recycled when
washed.
Steel cans can also be recycled – most cans containing food
are made from steel, which is one of the most recycled metals in
the world.
Things to remember:
• You can test a can to see if it is aluminium or steel using
a magnet – it will stick to the steel but not the aluminium.
• Aluminium cans have a shinier base than steel cans.
• Aerosols can be recycled as long as they are empty (don’t
crush them).
• Wash and squash food and drinks cans.
The aluminium cans collected by Bryson Charitable Group for recycling go to
a company in England called Alcan. Steel cans are sent to a company
called Corus for recycling.
next: Plastics
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