- Let’s talk aluminum cans!
- Have you ever wondered what happens after you throw an aluminum can in your green recycling bin at home or bring it into your local scrap yard?
- Well first, they are sorted and then are typically compressed into bales for easier handling and transportation, like the ones you see right behind me!
- These bales then arrive at an aluminum processing mill and are loaded onto a conveyor that feeds into a shredder.
- There are many steps that the bales go through to make sure it is just aluminum going in the melting pots.
- There are things like an optical sorter that uses infrared sensors to separate the metal from non-metal.
- Air jets blast away any plastic or glass, leaving only aluminum.
- And A powerful magnet removes any scraps of steel.
- Then what is left is shredded aluminum chips that are then melted in furnaces at high temperatures.
- The molten aluminum is poured into molds to create ingots.
- The ingots are then transported to a rolling mill where they are heated and passed through rollers to make thin sheets.
- These thin sheets are then formed to create a new aluminum can!
- Aluminum cans can be recycled repeatedly, and the process continues to save energy and resources.
