Recycling Aluminum Tabs Vs. Cans

Aluminum cans and aluminium tabs are both made out of bauxite ore. The ore is mined, melted and molded in much the same way for tabs and cans. Although the weight of cans and tabs vary, approximately 34 cans make a pound of recycling material; it takes more than 1,000 aluminum tabs to make a pound. The decision to collect tabs or cans does not really depend upon the material, but the reasons for recycling.

Recycling for Profit

When collecting can, storage is often a challenge.

Since cans outweigh tabs, cans are a better choice to recycle for profit, The price paid for metal, which may be obtained from the local recycling center, varies from day to day. If the amount for the day is 50 cents per pound, a standard-size pickup truck bed filled with around 20 bags of uncrushed cans will be worth between $30 and $40. It would take approximately 60,000 tabs to earn that same amount of money.

Recycling for the Environment

Recycling cans reduces waste in the landfills and makes the environment more visually appealing.

Recycling cans is the better choice for the environment, simply because they create more physical and visual waste than tabs. Also, tabs are already attached to the cans. Removing them to recycle them and throwing away the can is conterproductive to the environment. More than 100,000 cans per minute are saved from landfills and recycled in the United States. The materials generated are used to make new cans, cars and building materials. Recycling cans not only yields material for new products, but it also conserves energy. Around 92 percent of the energy needed to produce a new can from ore is saved in producing a new can from recycled cans. Recycling tabs alone would produce some of these benefits, but would fail to reduce much space in the landfills and to create a more visually appealing environment.

Recycling for Reuse

Tabs and cans may both be reused by the consumer. Pencil holders are created by cutting the top out of drink cans; and jewelery is be made by cutting patterns out of the cans and mounting them on chains or bracelets. Cans are also used in building projects, along with glass bottles, to create solar powered heat. Crocheted belts and pocket books also feature drink can tabs.

History of Recycling Cans

Napoleon Bonaparte provided food for his soldiers preserved in tin and bottles. The British, finding out the French had this invention, decided to create their own method of preserving food in bottles and metals Canned food continued to be popular among explorers, colonists and gold seekers for transporting food long distances.
No one worried about there being too many cans until 1960s. In 1965, the aluminum can was born. It was light, attractive and recyclable. The fact that it could be recycled boosted its popularity. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, recycling can aluminum cans gained favor and it remains a part of daily life as of 2010.

Myths about Recycling Tabs

Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, tabs removed from aluminum cans have no redemption value toward time on a kidney dialysis machine; they are not made of a material that has greater worth than the cans; and removing the tab from the can does not render the unacceptable for recycling.

Similarly, it is not true that all charities accept tabs, but some do. Contact a local recycling center to inquire as to whether charities in your area accept tabs.

References

• Mother Earth News: Recycling and the Recession
• Pollution: Recycling Some Myths
• Earth 911: Cans for Cash Award Winners Announced
• EPA: Aluminum
• Can Central: The History of Can Making