WHO KNEW Aluminum Cans Are a Better Choice Than Glass When It Comes to Recycling?
The name of the game is to eliminate the use of plastic. Glass or aluminum is always a better choice. But is there a big difference between the two? Yes, but it’s complicated. Recycling a glass bottle uses 90% more energy than recycling an aluminum can. Aluminum cans are one of the easiest materials to recycle, and aluminum can be recycled indefinitely. In fact, 75% of all the aluminum ever produced is still in circulation, and in the US alone, over 100,000 cans are recycled every minute. Still, an estimated 45 billion cans make it into landfills every year from lack of recycling.
By contrast, less than 10% of plastic is recycled, and plastic degrades significantly through the recycling process.
It takes twice as much energy to produce glass bottles as it does to produce aluminum cans—as long as you are using recycled aluminum. However, if you make your aluminum cans from virgin aluminum, then you will use ten times the energy you would need to produce glass. This is because the primary source for aluminum is bauxite, and the mining for bauxite has a significant negative environmental impact. Increased demand for aluminum exacerbates the environmental woes from mining bauxite.
So, what is an environmentally conscious person to do? Well, when it comes to single use drink containers, avoid buying them altogether, as much as possible. If you do need to buy them, shun plastic, and try to buy aluminum. Just remember to recycle the can.
Here are a few articles which highlight the complexities of this issue: