Steel Cans: America's Most Recycled Package - Sponsored Whitepaper

Steel Cans: America’s Most Recycled Package

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The most recycled material—steel—reached a record high of 83.3 percent in 2008 according to data from scrap processors, steel producers, the United States Geological Survey and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Information can take up to a year to gather and compile. “Steel continues to be recycled at a higher volume than paper, plastic, glass, copper and aluminum combined, and the steel can holds the distinction of being food and beverage’s most recycled container,” said Bill Heenan, president of the Steel Recycling Institute. Metal packaging is easy to collect, sort and recycle because of its magnetic quality. It can be recycled an infinite number of times without loss of durability or strength. Recovered metal feeds the production cycle—it isn’t waste—an infinite recycling loop can be created with no“down-cycling”.

Using recycled steel also saves energy. Compared to production from virgin raw materials, producing steel exclusively from scrap requires 75% less energy. Using recycled material, the steel industry saves enough energy in one year to electrically power more than 18 million homes for one year. The amount of recycled steel recovered in 2005 through packaging (more than 1.4 million tons) would yield enough steel to build 185,00 steel framed homes. Each can recycled substantially reduces the environmental footprint of the next can, and recycled cans are back on the shelf in as little as 60 days. Americans could save more than $3 billion worth of energy each year by recycling cans.

• The steel can is America’s most recycled container