I missed my “green” post last week, but I’m back. This weeks topic: those darn cans! Do you know that soda cans are made from aluminum? Aluminum comes from the ground and the best way to preserve it is to keep recycling those cans. It is a material that we can keep using again and again. Every single can is able to be recycled, an important fact considering that we use 65 billion soda cans a year! Here is how it works:
Soda cans and other products made from aluminum such as, food cans and foil are collected and sent to factories to be recycled. They are ground into tiny metal chips, melted and turned into solid bars of aluminum. The bars are then rolled into sheets of aluminum and sold to make new cans. There is no amount of time that a can be recycled. The can that you are drinking out today could have been part of someones can thirty years ago. Here is a tip: recycling just one can can save enough energy to run your TV for 3 hours. So, not only are you saving aluminum, but also the energy that goes into making a can from scratch.
What can you do?
1. Recycle cans as you do glass.
2. Wash them out
3. Clean foil, pie plates and frozen food trays are able to be recycled too.
4. If you see cans or foil on the ground, pick them up and recycle them at home.
This is such an easy way to help the environment. It also is a good lesson to begin teaching our children. My kids know what items to throw away and what items we recycle. Do yours? It’s never to early to learn about recycling.
YUMMommy says
Fire departments also collect soda cans and recycle them for money that goes to help pay volunteer fire fighters and cover other expenses.
beyourbestmom says
That’s- awesome! That not only helps the environment, but helps keep our communities safe!
Beth says
We always save our cans, bottles and plastic (especially now that they charge for water bottles) and bring them in to get our nickels back. We save them up for a while (like 3 months) then bring them all in at once and get back like $30. It adds up quickly.
beyourbestmom says
I know. It’s like found money! It’s so easy. I can’t believe some people don’t do it.