# Recycling Cans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698 "2023-12-16T18:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/21 "2023-12-17T16:18:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I thought that soda can lids were made of another metal so that the cans aren’t pure aluminum. So do you separate the lids? A barely different alloy. Aluminum cans, lids, and pull tabs are 99% pure aluminum. The main difference is the thickness and forming method. This makes them very valuable for recycling since it’s easy to include them in other alloys. All metals are so expensive these days recycling most is practical. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/22 "2023-12-17T16:56:21Z")
I understand thet but @TriPolar was melting down the cans to reuse the aluminum. I was wondering if that made a difference. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/23 "2023-12-17T17:31:50Z")
I suppose if I was trying to produce some particular new alloy the impurities might make some difference in the quality of the product, but in the case of aluminum bronze the variances in the copper I’m using and my ability to control the other additives like iron, zinc, and silicon would have more effect than the aluminum impurities. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/24 "2023-12-17T17:39:17Z")
Okay. Thanks. Do you also melt down aluminum foil or pie pans? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/25 "2023-12-17T17:43:55Z")
I haven’t done that, but I have some pieces of aluminum trim like drip edge that I’ll probably include some day, along with bits and pieces of aluminum stock that I’ve accumulated. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/26 "2023-12-18T00:50:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If I were making machine tools from scratch I never actually pursued the actual projects in the Gingery books, but I learned a lot about how one approaches such adventures, which informed a lot of other stuff I’ve hammered on over the years. They were a great complement to reading the history of Whitworth’s breakthroughs in developing machine tools in the 1850s. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/27 "2023-12-18T02:35:29Z")
Years ago, I lived in one state & was dating someone in another state. We didn’t have deposits but her state did. I also belonged to a club that would go thru a full trash bag/can liner worth of soda every month. I stopped them from taking it out to the curb & I’d take it with me on my next visit up to her. Usually ended up with a free six-pack of beer for the weekend out of it. Back then, they’d only count the cans & give you 5¢ per; now all of the supermarkets there have you feed them one at a time into one of three machines (aluminum, glass, & plastic) but they only have to take back what they sell so they won’t take Store A house brand of plastic water bottles at Store B. Pretty stupid decision IMO. It’s not worth most people’s gas & time to take a small quantity to another store so they end up being tossed in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/28 "2023-12-18T03:39:44Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Back then, they’d only count the cans & give you 5¢ per That’s when drinking was an investment. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/29 "2023-12-18T12:26:22Z")
We used to separate our cans and bottles, but the company that ran the collection center conveniently located at the strip mall went belly-up. We’re not hauling them to the next town, so they just go in the general recycling bin now, and the city presumably gets the redemption value. I wish the stores that sell these materials were required to accept them back - I mean, they are collecting the deposit on them, right? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/30 "2023-12-18T15:37:38Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I wish the stores that sell these materials were required to accept them back - I mean, they are collecting the deposit on them, right? This varies with the state. One big change was with Covid; there was a fear that these cans could spread Covid so these requirements were relaxed in some states. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/31 "2023-12-18T15:48:28Z")
We don’t have single stream recycling where I live. Or trash pick up, or mail delivery. So I pack it up and take it into town. The county runs it (I work for the county). It’s free to drop off. But needs to all be seperated. Alum, glass (different colors) paper and also cardboard. Different roll offs for each. The county hauls it and processes it as much as they can and then hauls it again to a facility 100 miles away. It costs the county (well, in the end, citizens) money to do this. But keeps a shit ton (thousands and thousands of tons) out of the land fill. We are a green/moderate county. We also offer free bus service. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/32 "2023-12-18T16:20:53Z")
> [@vbob](#): > > I never actually pursued the actual projects in the Gingery books, but I learned a lot about how one approaches such adventures, which informed a lot of other stuff I’ve hammered on over the years. They were a great complement to reading the history of Whitworth’s breakthroughs in developing machine tools in the 1850s. It’s been a similar path for me. We live in the right place if you’re interested in the history of machine tools. A lot of development centered around RI because the American industrial revolution started here. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698/33 "2023-12-21T17:30:33Z")
My cousin once spent a whole summer melting large quantities of aluminum beverage cans and making aluminum ingots. I think his motivation was that he just likes melting stuff. When he took his ingots to the scrap yard he was shocked to find he only got 1/4th the expected price because it was cast aluminum instead of beverage cans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-cans/994698.md?page=1)