Cans

Last year in the UK, we recycled around 3.5 Billion aluminium cans.

That’s enough to stretch around the world over 10 times!

Here’s how we do it…

Cans are sorted from other waste, either by hand or by machine.

The cans are then divided into metal types using magnets.

Steel cans are separated, leaving aluminium cans to be shredded into small pieces.

These small pieces of aluminium are then formed into blocks…

The blocks are then put into a furnace and heated to over 750°C

Chemicals are added to improve the quality of the molten metal, which is then poured into moulds, cooled by a curtain of water and gradually formed into an ingot.

The ingots are 10meters long, weigh 27 tonnes and contain enough aluminium for over 1.5 million aluminium drink cans.

At the rolling mill, ingots are rolled into very thin sheets and taken to a manufacturing plant to be made into more cans, which can be back on the shelves in just 6 weeks!