Why You Should Never Crush an Aluminum Can Before Throwing It Into the Recycle Bin?

Before dumping aluminum cans in the garbage, experts suggest not crushing them as it isn't ideal for the environment.

PUBLISHED 6 DAYS AGO

(L) A person crushing a soda can. (R) Several crushed aluminum cans are in the bin. (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L) Long Tang, (R) Cottonbro Studios)

The practice of crushing aluminum cans before dumping them in the garbage is common. While many might think they are doing the world a favor by distorting the cans, they are not quite right. The notion that the crushed cans take up less space making room for more garbage is not exactly ideal for the environment at large. The crushed cans often disturb the sorting process during waste management making it more difficult and complicated. Recycling becomes more difficult when these cans fall into the wrong piles of material and contaminate other recyclable garbage, per aluminum experts.

Empty crushed cans lying on the soil. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mable Amber)

Matt Meenan, the senior director of public affairs at the Aluminum Association told Lifehacker, “Crushed aluminum cans may fall through the spaces of the sorting equipment and can either be lost entirely or improperly sorted.” He suggested that the pressed cans could potentially be categorized as paper by machines and disturb the recycling process. Therefore, uncrushed cans serve a higher purpose than crushed ones in waste management strategies. However, the report further pointed out that the type of recycling infrastructure employed in local areas influences whether cans must be crushed or not.

Aluminum cans in the production line at a factory. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | cottonbro studio)

For multi-stream or dual-stream methods, crushed cans pose no cause for concern because it means the recyclables are separated out and all the cans are disposed of together. This prevents the risk of contamination with other recyclable materials. Unfortunately, nine out of 10 big cities in the U.S. use the single-stream recycling method, per a 2015 report. The single-stream method is the type of recycling that requires all recyclable materials to be dumped in a single bin rather than separating them into different bins. Hence, an intact can is advantageous to the sorting process of such a recycling method. To surmise, it is a good practice to gather information about a particular locality's waste disposal process for efficient recycling of cans.

A woman throwing a metal can inside the recycle bin. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | SHVETS Productions)

In contrast, plastic bottles can be crushed, though not advised, and dumped only with their caps on. The latter is an important step to consider since bottle caps have the highest potential of contaminating the environment. It is generally presumed that bottles without caps ease the recycling process but this misinformation has led to numerous caps being dumped in the ocean causing detriment to the marine creatures. “If you throw the cap in the trash instead, it typically ends up in the ocean,” experts at the Taste of Home stated. The plastic bottles are said to go through a water bath and the caps and bottles are naturally segregated due to the plastic material used in their manufacture.

A person crushing an empty plastic bottle with cap. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Kaboompics.com)

Plastic bottle caps are made up of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). The water bath causes these caps to float up while the bottle sinks and allows the professionals to easily sort and recycle accordingly. If not disposed of properly, the caps contaminate oceans and beaches across the globe. It is reported marine mammals, fish, and birds ingest the bottle caps mistaking them for food and suffer from indigestion while also risking their lives. Besides the potential risks, the HDPE and PP used in bottle caps are high-value plastic. Therefore, irresponsible dumping would only waste the potential of the plastic caps in addition to harming the environment for the worse.