Can Aluminum Cans Be Recycled? - (The Truth might surprise you)

[00:12] Today we're going to find out what

[00:15] really happens to recycled aluminum

[00:17] cans. It's probably a little different

[00:20] than you might think.

[00:23] It all starts right here in Alabama with

[00:25] Constellium and an aluminum recycling

[00:27] facility that's been here in the USA

[00:30] recycling aluminum for the past 90

[00:32] years. They are currently one of the

[00:33] largest used beverage can recycling

[00:36] facilities on the planet. Since aluminum

[00:38] is infinitely recyclable and 75% of all

[00:42] aluminum ever mined is still in

[00:43] circulation today, there's a very good

[00:45] chance that the cans you see here in

[00:47] these bales have already been through

[00:49] these fiery furnaces more than once. And

[00:52] it's time for them to ride the roller

[00:53] coaster of rebirth yet again. Behind me,

[00:56] each of these bales weighs about 1,000

[00:58] lb and contains about 30,000 aluminum

[01:02] drinking cans. Here in the United

[01:04] States, Americans consume about 100

[01:07] billion cans a year, and they need to be

[01:10] recycled somewhere. The big bales of

[01:12] cans are offloaded from semi-truckss and

[01:14] stacked neatly, positioned in rows,

[01:17] ready for their turn to be grabbed by

[01:19] the claw.

[01:25] The claw is really a grapple excavator

[01:28] that shreds full bales of cans to get

[01:30] them ready for processing. Thumbs up for

[01:32] that cool machine. Once the bales are

[01:34] broken open, the big front loader can

[01:36] then scoop up the loose cans and drop

[01:38] them onto a vibratory conveyor belt.

[01:57] The vibrations help sift the cans down

[01:59] onto the conveyor uniformally, so the

[02:02] facility inside has a steady stream of

[02:04] aluminum scrap to work with. Shredding

[02:06] the cans accomplishes multiple things.

[02:08] One, the smaller scraps are easier to

[02:10] work with. And two, shredding makes sure

[02:13] that there is no liquid remaining in any

[02:14] of the cans since liquid could be

[02:17] catastrophic to the furnaces, as we'll

[02:19] talk about later.

[02:20] >> So, the crush cans come in from outside

[02:22] inside this tumbler right here where

[02:24] they get delaminated and then thrown

[02:26] down into the furnace right here where

[02:28] everything gets melted up. This

[02:31] deacering process strips away the paint

[02:33] and enamel on the outside of the cans to

[02:35] get the aluminum cleaner before it falls

[02:37] into the furnace.

[02:44] And curiously, the best way to mix the

[02:46] new can scraps in with the already hot

[02:48] molten metal is with two mechanically

[02:50] stomping feet. like some kind of

[02:52] steampunk wine press. The oversized

[02:55] aluminum boot stompers help press the

[02:57] top layers of scrap down into the molten

[02:59] aluminum underneath. Aluminum melts at

[03:01] about 1,220°

[03:03] F. So, these furnaces are cooking quite

[03:06] literally. I had to put on some special

[03:08] PPE to keep me safe. This aluminumized

[03:11] jacket and gloves do two things. They

[03:14] reflect a lot of the radiant heat coming

[03:16] from inside the furnace while at the

[03:18] same time they're made with aluminum

[03:19] themselves. So, if there is any

[03:21] accidental splashes, the aluminum would

[03:23] beat up and roll off of my suit, keeping

[03:25] me safe underneath, hopefully. Speaking

[03:28] of splashes, one of the biggest concerns

[03:30] here at the factory is liquid getting

[03:32] inside of the furnace or the crucible,

[03:34] since liquid water expands about 1,000

[03:36] times in volume when it turns to steam.

[03:39] Any cans with liquid still inside of

[03:40] them would create an explosive silvery

[03:43] lava bubble, which is why the shredding

[03:45] and drying process is so important. Now

[03:47] that we have the molten aluminum lava

[03:49] all melted up inside of the furnace,

[03:51] it's time to collect it all in the

[03:52] largest crucible I've ever seen. The

[03:54] crucible is a specially built cup that

[03:56] can collect the silvery liquid aluminum

[03:58] for transport. Since the casting

[04:00] building is about a/4 mile away, we have

[04:02] to drive the liquid over to the next

[04:04] building. And a remotec controlled

[04:06] overhead crane does all the heavy

[04:08] lifting for us. Recycling aluminum uses

[04:10] 95% less energy than mining new aluminum

[04:13] from the ground. Which also means

[04:15] recycled aluminum has 95% fewer

[04:18] emissions while at the same time

[04:20] decreasing our dependence on foreign

[04:22] mines since we can just recirculate our

[04:24] own supply forever.

[04:41] as long of course as you're putting your

[04:43] cans in the right bin. It's also at this

[04:45] point that can constellium can add

[04:46] manganesees to the trough to keep the

[04:48] aluminum alloy consistent as well as

[04:51] some pink salt which helps acts as a

[04:53] flux. The salt helps collect

[04:54] contaminants that can be scraped off the

[04:56] top of the crucible. The slack that's

[04:58] getting scraped off is just the

[04:59] impurities and non-aluminum metals that

[05:02] have floated up to the surface. Yeah,

[05:04] it's pretty warm in here. Pretty warm.

[05:06] Pretty warm.

[05:08] >> After the top is scraped off, the whole

[05:10] crucible is hoisted back onto the

[05:12] awaiting truck to be driven off to the

[05:13] casting portion of the factory, which is

[05:16] another fun process to watch. If the

[05:18] trucks aren't able to leave right away,

[05:20] they can park under some torches to help

[05:22] keep the aluminum from solidifying since

[05:24] that would become a very large and heavy

[05:26] problem. Constellium recycles about 1

[05:28] billion pounds worth of aluminum every

[05:30] single year. And this factory operates

[05:32] all day long 24/7 since the furnaces can

[05:36] never be allowed to go cold. Once the

[05:38] trucks arrive at the casting machine,

[05:40] the easiest way to get the aluminum out

[05:41] of the crucible is with a giant straw.

[05:44] The straw sucks up the aluminum like a

[05:46] forbidden slurpee cup. You can see how

[05:48] fast it drains the molten aluminum in

[05:50] real time. Even though aluminum can be

[05:53] infinitely recycled, it's estimated here

[05:55] in the USA that about 60 billion cans

[05:58] are thrown into landfills every year

[06:00] where they can't be recycled. The United

[06:02] States has an aluminum can recycling

[06:04] rate of about only 43%.

[06:07] Which is pretty bad compared to Canada's

[06:09] 71% aluminum can recycling rate. I guess

[06:12] that's why they call it Canada.

[06:15] And the UK is sitting at around 80%. But

[06:17] it's actually Brazil that beats everyone

[06:19] with a nearly 100% aluminum can

[06:22] recycling rate. Nice work, Brazil. But

[06:25] you're probably like, "Hey, Jerry, how

[06:26] do we get the liquid aluminum into a

[06:28] usable format?" And I'm very glad you

[06:30] asked. The coolest part of this whole

[06:32] process is the casting and the rolling.

[06:34] The aluminum we just hoovered out of the

[06:36] crucible is poured into massive 40,000

[06:39] lb ingots, six at a time, without using

[06:42] any molds. Constellium pours the molten

[06:45] aluminum into a rectangle in the ground.

[06:47] And then as the aluminum cools down,

[06:49] thanks to the misters and flowing water,

[06:51] it can solidify into free space below

[06:54] the rectangle, creating an aluminum

[06:56] obelisk. This is called electromagnetic

[06:58] casting. A magnetic field helps the

[07:00] metal solidify without physically

[07:02] touching the walls of the mold, giving

[07:04] the slabs a uniform smooth finish on the

[07:06] hardened exterior, which will come in

[07:09] handy later. Constellium's ingots are

[07:11] about 2 meters wide and 5 meters long

[07:13] and weigh more than your mom's minivan.

[07:16] It's as dense as 12 minivans to be

[07:18] exact. The crazy part though is that

[07:20] even though they look hard and finished

[07:22] from the outside, they can retain their

[07:24] heat and be too hot for humans to touch

[07:26] for 2 or three more days as they sit on

[07:28] the factory floor. Once they are fully

[07:30] formed, the only thing that can move

[07:32] them around here at the factory is the

[07:34] overhead crane. These use large pencers

[07:36] to grab each ingot. It's rather

[07:38] impressive seeing a crane that can

[07:39] easily hoist these massive slabs of

[07:41] aluminum. Remember, each one of these

[07:43] weighs as much as a school bus.

[07:45] Constellium takes safety very seriously

[07:47] and blocks off all traffic underneath

[07:49] the crane's path while it's in motion.

[07:51] And while giant rectangles are fun and

[07:53] everything, to get the aluminum into a

[07:55] more usable form factor, we need to

[07:57] smash it a lot over and over again until

[08:00] it is 7 mi long. The chosen ingot is

[08:04] reheated in a furnace to make it

[08:05] malleable and then hot rolled with a

[08:08] 10,000 ton rolling mill. 10,000 tons is

[08:11] about the equivalent weight of 3,000

[08:13] elephants, all stampeding very neatly in

[08:15] the same spot. The ingot rolls back and

[08:18] forth through the mill, getting flatter

[08:19] and longer with each pass. You can see

[08:22] the liquid emulsion floating on top of

[08:24] our casting. This oil and water mixture

[08:26] accomplishes two things. The oil helps

[08:28] lubricate the metal as it gets rolled,

[08:30] and the water helps distribute the heat

[08:32] of the metal as it gets worked to keep

[08:34] it from warping and cracking. I also

[08:36] thought it was cool to see each of the

[08:37] electric motors attached to the rollers,

[08:39] since rolling and stopping and changing

[08:42] directions of a 40,000lb block of

[08:44] aluminum requires a lot of horsepower.

[09:01] Once our ingot is no longer a block and

[09:03] sits at about half an inch thick is

[09:05] rolled up into a coil to be passed on to

[09:07] the cold rolling mills. See most

[09:09] industrial facilities like automobile

[09:11] factories or appliance factories. They

[09:13] get their aluminum in rolls because the

[09:15] rolled up sheet metal form factor is

[09:17] easier to feed into their body panel

[09:19] stamping equipment. Or the rolls can be

[09:21] reincarnated back into aluminum drinking

[09:24] cans. We've seen these giant coils quite

[09:26] a few times in my other factory tour

[09:28] videos here on my channel. Thank you for

[09:30] subscribing by the way. To roll a

[09:32] complete 7m long strip of aluminum,

[09:34] constellium has to go vertical with

[09:36] accumulator towers since just like pizza

[09:39] dough, the more it gets squished, the

[09:40] longer it gets. And constellium makes

[09:43] about 3 million pounds worth of these

[09:45] finished coils every single day. All

[09:47] this to say that your recycled aluminum

[09:49] can can be back on the store shelf as a

[09:51] new can in about 60 days, but only if it

[09:54] goes into the recycling bin and not the

[09:56] trash bin. The nice thing about

[09:58] recycling aluminum cans, though, is that

[10:00] most recycling places will pay you for

[10:01] the metal, or you can always throw them

[10:03] in your streetide recycling bin if

[10:05] that's easier. At the USA's current 43%

[10:08] recycling rate, we aren't even

[10:10] replenishing our own domestic supply,

[10:12] which from a supply chain and national

[10:14] security perspective is a little bit

[10:16] unnerving. Do you recycle your aluminum?

[10:18] Let me know down in the comments. 40 of

[10:20] those bales of cans were turned into the

[10:22] massive ingot, which was then rolled

[10:24] into this huge coil behind me. So, make

[10:27] sure you put your next beverage can in

[10:29] the recycling bin so it can turn into

[10:31] your next vehicle, your next airplane,

[10:33] or back into a can you can drink from

[10:36] again. Hit that subscribe button if you

[10:38] haven't already, and thanks a ton for

[10:39] watching. I'll see you around.