The diagram below shows how aluminium cans are recycled in the UK, where the current recycling rate stands at 74%.
Overall, the process consists of six stages, beginning with collection of aluminium cans and ending with reusing.
First of all, we need to collect from recycling bins all already used recyclable cans.Once gathered, the aluminium undergoes a preparatory phase involving cleaning, sorting, shredding, and compressing.This part of the process ensures the metal is pure and reshapes the bulk material for more efficient manufacturing.
Following this, the processed metal is subjected to heating and melting in a high-temperature furnace until it becomes liquid.The molten aluminium then moves to the rolling stage, where it is pressed into thin, flat sheets. These sheets are subsequently transported to factories for recycling into new beverage containers. The metal eventually returns to the market in the reusing stage; once these cans are consumed, they flow back into the collection system to repeat the process.
