Recycling - Why You Should Recycle Steel And Aluminum Cans

Each and every year thousands upon thousands of tons of trash is poured into landfills. Though we are in no immediate danger of running short on landfill space, this is expensive in terms of time, space, and energy invested, as well as the sheer waste of materials that will not ever be used again. With that in mind, consider the reasons below for keeping your aluminum and steel cans out of the landfill by recycling them instead.

- Aluminum that has been recycled is back in use again within a couple of months. In contrast, it would take 200-500 years for that same to break down naturally if were just thrown away.

- Recycling is not just about material savings, but also about energy consciousness. Every aluminum can which is recycled saves enough energy to run a tv for 3 hours; one pound of cans recycled will save enough energy to run it for four days!

- Metal cans can be exchanged for cash at many places. Various states offer five cents per can recycled, and certain centers offer between a dollar and two dollars per pound of cans recycled.

- Recycled steel and aluminum are no different in composition from ‘new’ aluminum and steel. Recycled metals are simply melted down and then forged into new products, which can then be recycled again when they are finished being used.

- On average, Americans recycle 105,784 aluminum cans per minute. The majority of that number is a result of particular communities working hard on special projects that they set-up, and that is something that you should encourage those in your neighborhood to take up, as recycling can bring communities together.

- The 100,000,000 ‘new’ steel cans made every day contain 25% recycled materials. That equates to 25 million reclaimed cans vs. 75 million completely new cans. If more people recycled, that number would soon become 50-50 and a great deal of resources and energy would be saved.

- The United States currently uses steel which is more than 65 percent recycled. That is not too bad, but there is definitely room for improvement. Significant further progress would be made if more people were aware that they can recycle their steel cans.

- There are multiple can-crushing machines on the market that can be used to make the job easier, and you can even make a home-made one for free. This removes the a commonly used excuse that recycling cans takes up too much space within your home.
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http://www.cancrusher.org.uk is a site offering information about recycling aluminum and steel cans.