Recycling feels simple: toss your used cans or old appliances in the bin and pat yourself on the back. But if you’re not prepping those items the right way, you might be doing more harm than good. Steel and aluminum are highly recyclable. In fact, over 90% of steel products can be reused, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute, but only if they’re clean and sorted properly.
That means rinsing out aluminum cans instead of crushing them, removing plastic or rubber parts from old cookware, and giving small appliances a once-over to strip out any non-metal components. Doing it right doesn’t take much time, and it ensures your efforts actually help the planet instead of gumming up the works. A little extra care goes a long way toward smarter, more sustainable recycling.
And if you’re still crushing your cans flat before tossing them? Don’t. Experts say that can mess with sorting machines that rely on shape to ID and direct materials to the right place. The bottom line: steel and aluminum can be recycled endlessly without degrading, so it’s worth doing right.
Here are some easy tips to follow when recycling to make sure you’re always on the right page.
For more important tips, explore which takeout containers can and can’t be recycled, how to recycle computers and printers free and how to recycle your old phones.
Which sorts of metal cans can be recycled?
All metal cans are recyclable, if they’ve been cleaned. Examples include:
- Beverage cans, like soda and beer, including the tabs
- Paint cans
- Canned goods
- Aerosol cans
Cleaning metal cans
Don’t do this: Toss cans into the recycling bin before cleaning. If foods or liquids are left in the cans, they can contaminate an entire batch of recyclables, rendering them useless. Unrinsed cans can also attract roaches, rodents and other nasty critters that you don’t want crawling around your bins.
Do this instead: Make sure all cans are clear of liquids or foods that could be left in the container. You can do this by rinsing the can when you’re finished with it.
What to do with the lids
Canned goods: Don’t remove the lid only halfway before placing it into the recycling bin. Instead, completely remove the lid from the can and place it inside the can (after rinsing). Only place lids inside an empty can made of the same metal material.
Aerosol cans: Lids on aerosol cans are typically plastic so you should remove those before putting the cans into the bin. The plastic lids should go with other plastic recyclables, as the heat applied during the metal recycling process will destroy any plastic recyclable mixed into the batch.
Clean out all cans before recycling.
Do I need to remove paper labels before recycling cans?
Generally, you don’t need to remove paper labels from metal or aluminum cans before you chuck them in the recycling bin. When the cans are recycled, the heat applied to the metal burns away the paper and the adhesive glue entirely, meaning there’s no worry that your contributions might contaminate the batch.
However, there are other cases in which you might want to remove the paper labels before you recycle something. You can take these labels off of your metal cans and toss them in with your paper recycling if you don’t like the idea of the labels getting turned to ash in the recycling process. More important, you do have to remove the paper labels if you’re recycling plastics, because the recycling process for metals and plastics is different.
When in doubt, it’s best to contact your local recycling facility. One Reddit user familiar with recycling facilities pointed out that, while the mechanics of recycling are important to understand, each recycling plant has its own unique machinery with different capabilities — they aren’t standardized so it’s not simple to give a one-size-fits-all answer.
Making a quick call to your local plant will ensure that you know what can and can’t be recycled, and what might contaminate a batch of recyclables.
What else should I do?
- Avoid puncturing aerosol cans to remove the remaining liquid.
- Make sure all paint is either dry or completely rinsed out before recycling. If you have leftover paint or other hazardous waste, take it to a drop-off center near you.
- Don’t crush aluminum cans before recycling because they can contaminate the batch. Recycling sorting machines also rely on shape to identify and crushing cans and other recyclables can trip them up.
For more recycling information, here’s how to properly recycle plastic and the right way to recycle paper and cardboard.
Metal recycling FAQs
What’s are the most important things to do before recycling metal cans?
Before you recycle metal cans, it’s important to rinse them out to remove any excess fluids within the can. This is to make sure that your can doesn’t contaminate the entire batch of recyclables. You can also remove the paper label but this isn’t necessary for metal cans.
When should I remove the paper label from my recyclables?
While it’s not necessary to remove the paper label from metal cans, you can still do so if you want to put the label in with the rest of your paper recyclables. You do have to remove the paper label from any plastic recyclables, as the plastic recycling process is different from the metal and aluminum recycling process.
How do I find the rules for recycling near me?
To find out the particular do’s and don’ts for recycling near you, find the contact information for your local recycling facility and call it. Recycling plants aren’t standardized, and each one has different equipment and capabilities. Finding out what the local plant can do will make your recyclable prep much easier.
