The Life of Your Soda Can

This can will go on a journey!

You walk into the closest grocery store and buy a can of soda.  Simple, right?  You have probably done it so many times that it seems normal, even dull, to think about.

Every time you make the choice to recycle, instead of dispose, a soda can- it goes on a journey.  The life of a soda can really begins from the moment is is recycled.

Here are the steps many of your cans have gone through:

1. Customer takes can to a recycling center or puts it into a recycling bin.
2. The can is transported to a processing facility.
3. A giant magnet lifts out cans that are made of metals such steel. Since aluminum cans aren't magnetic, they drop down to a conveyor belt and are gathered.
4. The aluminum is shredded, washed and turned into aluminum chips.
5. The chips are melted in a large furnace.
6. The melted aluminum is poured into molds called "ingots."
7. The ingots are taken to a factory where they're melted into rolls of thin, flat sheets.
8. From the sheets, manufacturers make new products, including new beverage cans, pie pans, license plate frames, and aluminum foil.
9. Beverage companies fill the cans and deliver them to grocery stores for customers to purchase.
10. Customers take used cans to a recycling center and the process starts all over again.

Recycling is one of the easiest ways to live a green life!

This list was included in the online article "What Can I Recycle" on Waste Management.com (wm.com/thinkgreen/).  Read the full article here.

Grady Management, Inc. was founded in 1965 and continues to provide full service residential, commercial and consulting real estate firm in the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan area. Learn more about Grady Management on our website or Facebook page.