Waste Reduction Home  |   Recycling Requests  |   Training and Education  |   Waste Reduction Staff  |   Green Games  |   Materials Recycled  |   Recycling Links  |   OWRR Design Guidelines  |

Procedure for Recycling Aluminum and Steel Cans at UNC

1. Empty all cans
2. Rinse to help deter bees
3. Crush to save space
4. Place in bin marked "Bottles & Cans."
5. Aluminum and Steel Cans are recycled at indoor and outdoor sites, as well as walkway sites on campus

Click here to print new signs for your recycling bins.

Fact Sheet - Aluminum Cans

Fact: The average American uses 364 aluminum cans a year.

Fact: The 594.2 billion cans recycled since 1972 placed end-to-end could stretch to the moon some 190 times.

Fact: Using recycled aluminum beverage cans to produce new cans allows the aluminum can industry to make up to 20 times more cans for the same amount of energy. In 1993, the amount of energy saved was equivalent to 19.3 million barrels of oil, or 11.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

Fact: Every minute an average of 113,204 aluminum beverage cans are recycled.

Source Reduction: Aluminum cans are a low-weight, relatively high-volume container with a 275:1 volume-to-weight ratio. In the last 20 years, aluminum containers have been downsized by 30%. A high recycling rate combined with source reduction has made aluminum cans "green" containers. Ideally we should bring our own cups with us wherever we go, but when we do get something on the go, aluminum cans are NOT a bad choice as long as they are recycled.

North Carolina's aluminum can recycling policy: Under North Carolina State law G.S. 130A-309.10 (f), a statewide ban on the disposal of aluminum cans became effective July 1, 1994.

Sources:

|  Facilities Home   |  Energy Services   |  Planning & Construction   |  Campus Services   |  UNC Home   |  Contact Us