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Aluminum Used Beverage Cans Recycling Study (Can Manufacturers Institute, Washington, DC)

The national trade association of the metal can manufacturing industry and its suppliers in the United States, the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), engaged GBB to produce a report that quantifies the relative value of aluminum used beverage cans (UBCs) in domestic municipal recycling programs and investigates how UBCs can further be a driver of the national recycling system. The intent of this research was to:

  • Describe the sortation process and accuracy by which cans are sorted and recovered at materials recovery facilities (MRFs);
  • Identify the role of the UBC in the U.S. national average recycling stream and its associated MRF revenues based on current commodity pricing;
  • Analyze the impact of UBC recycling and recovery rates on MRF revenue streams;
  • Find opportunities to improve UBC recycling and capture rates; and
  • Outline the high-level market drivers and impacts of UBCs within the recycling industry.

To accomplish these goals, GBB developed a proprietary model for the U.S. municipal recycling stream materials composition coming into MRFs and the associated revenues from the major recovered commodity materials, including UBCs, ferrous cans, PET and HDPE containers, mixed plastics, old corrugated cardboard (OCC), old newsprint (ONP), mixed papers, and glass. GBB’s model distinguished states with container deposit laws from those without, as these regulations affect the share of UBCs that arrive at MRFs for sortation and capture, and thus the relative share of UBCs in the incoming MRF stream compared to other materials and the resulting MRF revenues.

GBB further used this model to generate scenario analyses predicting how typical MRF revenues might vary with changing UBC input and capture rate assumptions. In addition, GBB provided a high-level overview of several emerging technologies and their applications to MRFs—specifically, how these technologies would be applied to the sorting and recovery of UBCs—and a review of market and supply chain conditions that can either help or hinder UBC recycling and capture.

The report, entitled “Aluminum Beverage Can: Driver of the U.S. Recycling System,” is available at
www.cancentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GBB-Report-Aluminum-Can-Drives-U.S.-Recycling-System-Final-2020-0623.pdf