Become Involved With Can Recycling Sacramento

By Andrea Davidson


As you travel about the city going about your normal routine you will have noticed some blue coloured bins. These are there as places for people to place their recyclable items in, instead of them being put out with the general trash. The aim of people using these bins is to help preserve the Earth's natural resources. It is simple to become involved with a can recycling Sacramento scheme.

Many people are surprised to find that what they are throwing out as trash most of it can be recycled. As a small mental exercise try thinking about just how many food and drink cans you toss out each week. Now that number needs multiplying by 52, so even a conservative 10 a week soon becomes 520 a year. Just think how many that would be if your whole street tossed the same number as food and drink cans as you.

It should be relatively easy to see how everyone can make a difference so simply. These cans are normally formed from either aluminium or steel, maybe there might even be a few tin ones too. They can be easily tested to determine their material with a fridge magnet. If a magnet is not attracted to the can its aluminium, if its attracted though then its steel.

One frightening statistic is that each year more than 50 Billion cans are disposed of. To put that into perspective, that would provide enough metal to build 13 aircraft carriers. Looking at things in a different light, just 4 aluminium cans recycled will create an energy saving equivalent to that required to run a washing machine for one hour. Even one recycled can creates an energy saving of enough to listen to your favourite album.

Typically the initial step has to be from the general public. Suppose you had just finished a drink of soda, and the can has been placed in one of the previous mentioned blue bins. The blue bins are regularly emptied, and their contents get taken taken to a specific storage area. Once enough have been accumulated they are sent to a treatment plant.

There are various tests that your soda can will get subjected to before being shredded, if it meets the quality requirement. From there the shredded pieces of aluminium are heated. This will remove the painted surface that everyone is so familiar seeing.

When that heat treatment has been completed the metal pieces are subjected to even more heat. All of the pieces now come together as a molten mass. This will then be poured into moulds, and when cooled they will have become solid ingots, or bars, of aluminium. The ingots in turn are formed into flat sheets, a manufacturer finds making a new soda can a lot easier this way.

So by a small bit of time and effort on an individual's part a big difference can be made. To make things easier steel cans should be separated from aluminium cans. In the interests of hygiene it also helps if the cans are washed out before they get left in the blue bins.. It is easy to help the environment by becoming involved with a can recycling Sacramento scheme.




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