Aluminium

75% of drinks cans on the market are made from aluminium. Aluminium cans can be identified as they carry a recyclable aluminium symbol (as shown to right). They can also be differentiated from stell cans as they will not stick to a magnet. Aluminium cans can be collected in your red box and recycled as part of our kerbside collections service or they can be recycled in one of our can banks.

Foil packaging (take aways, ready meals, yoghurt pot lids, chocolate wrapping etc)and cooking/wrapping aluminium foil is also recyclable as long as it it clean. To test if something is made from alumnium you can do the "scrunch test". Aluminium foil will not spring back when scrunched up. Plastic coated foil-like materials like crisp packets and some chocolate wrappers will spring back. The latter are non recyclable at present. We are currently working to provide facilities for residents to recycle aluminium foil.

Where Does It Go?

Aluminium cans collected from the red boxes are sold to a local reprocessor who will seperate the cans from the plastic bottles. The cans are then sent on for recycling at an aluminium processing facility.

Aluminium foil has to be dealt with seperately from aluminium cans if it is to be recycled as it is made from a slightly different alloy and so goes through a different reprocessing method.

More on Aluminium Recycling

Aluminium cans can be recycled into all sorts of useful new products such as wire, airliner body parts, window frames, engine components, trains and bicycles. It can of course also be recycling into new drinks cans. Recycling aluminium to make new cans gives a 95% energy saving.

For more information on aluminium recycling visit the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (ALUPRO) website.