What Happens to My Recyclables?

Metals

Did You Know? Metals can be recycled indefinitely without ever losing their properties!

Big Business: The U.S. uses around 130 billion metal cans a year made in 200 plants across 38 states, employing 35,000 workers in an $8 billion dollar industry!

Steel

Steel is a widely used magnetic metal. Steel cans are 99 percent steel with a thin coating of tin, though they are often called "tin cans." Steel is made from iron ore, and is 100% recyclable. In fact, all steel products are made with recycled metal, making it the most recycled material in the world!

Fast Fact: By recycling, the steel industry saves a lot of energy - enough to power 18 million households for a whole year! 

Recycled steel is:

• Recycled by you.
  
  
• Collected at your local recycling facility and separated from other recyclables with large magnets, then compressed into large rectangle blocks called bales to be shipped to a processing plant. 
  
  
  
• At the processing plant the metal is combined with other scrap and virgin steel and heated at very high temperatures until melted.
  
  
• Various cooling systems are used to harden the steel in to the new steel products.
  • Products such as cans, the outsides of many appliances, and car fenders are made with about 30% recycled steel in a basic oxygen furnace.
  • Other steel products such as steel beams and reinforcement bars used to support cement are made in an electric arc furnace with around 95-100% recycled steel.  
  
  

Aluminum

Aluminum is a lightweight, silver colored metal made from a clay-like ore called bauxite.  Aluminum is not magnetic and does not rust and is 100% recyclable.

Recycled Aluminum Is:

• Recycled by you.
  
  
• Collected at your local recycling facility and squashed into large rectangles called bales to be shipped to a processing plant. 
  
  
• The cans are shredded and then heated at very high temperatures until melted.
  
  
• The melted aluminum is poured into blocks or rods and cooled. These are called ingots.
  
  
• The ingots are heated and rolled into flat sheets which are shaped into cans at the manufacturing plant.
  
  
• The cans are sent to beverage companies where they are filled and sealed then sent to a store, ready to be bought again and recycled starting the process over again. This can all happen in just 60 days!

Visit http://www.cancentral.com to see a video of how a can is made.

Plastic

Plastic is made from petroleum, natural gas, and coal. The technology for recycling plastics is relatively new and still in development. Different combinations and process join the molecules into many different polymers, with a variety of strengths and flexibility.

Recycled plastic is:

• Recycled by you.
  
  
• Collected by your recycling station, sorted according to:
  
  
  • resin type: seen as a number on the bottom of the plastic item,

• molding process: how the plastic is made, for example,  shopping bags and milk jugs are made from the same resin type but processed differently.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The plastics are then compacted into large cubes called bales and transported to a processing plant.
  
  
  
  
• The different plastics are washed and shredded into flakes or fragmented into pellets.
  
  
• Manufacturers re-melt the flakes or pellets and mold them into new plastic products such as shampoo bottles, flower pots, decking, or even clothing.
  
  

Glass

Glass jars and bottles are made from a mixture of silica sand, soda ash, and limestone and can be recycled over and over indefinitely.  Glass’s properties make it an extremely safe container for preserving food and protecting flavor.

Recycled glass is:

• Recycled by you.
  
  
• Collected at your local recycling station and transported to a processing plant.
  
  
• Optical machines sort the glass by color.
  
  
• The glass is broken into small pieces, called cullet, and run through machines to remove any metals, labels, plastics or other contaminants.
  
  
• The cullet is then combined with new silica sand, soda ash, and limestone and heated until it melts.
  
  
• Additives are used to change the color of the molten glass which is blown into new bottles and jars.

Paper

Paper is made from plant fibers and cellulose. Americans typically use trees for the raw material, but cotton, kenaf, rice, straw, flax, bamboo, linen rags, hemp, and more can also be used. The types of paper collected and the methods used for separating the different types vary according to the recycling program where you live.

Wasted Paper: Paper is the number one material that we throw away, even though almost all of it can be recycled!  It makes up roughly a third (and often more) of what we toss.

Recycled paper is:

• Recycled by you.
  
  
• Collected at your local recycling facility and squashed into large cubes, called bales, and shipped to a processing plant.
  
  
• The paper is chopped up to separate the fibers from each other.
  
  
• The fibers are put through several mechanical and chemical treatments to wash out the inks and other contaminants. This soupy mixture is called slurry and is about 97% water.
• This process damages and shortens the fibers of the paper, thus paper can only be recycled around 3 – 6 times.
  
  
• How the paper is sorted for processing, (office paper, newspaper, magazines, mixed paper) determines the products the paper will become.

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