The benefits of improved UBC recovery

chart of ubc recycling rates in tradition recycling programs and container deposit programs — Image courtesy of the Can Manufacturers Institute

Scott Breen, Vice President, Can Manufacturers Institute & Nadya Ally, Sustainability Director, Aluminum Association

Published March 24, 2023

Once one of the most expensive and rarest materials in the world, aluminum now is among the most economical and abundant metals, and as aluminum demand continues to grow, so does the need to recycle.

The U.S. aluminum industry relies on material generated through recycling as a crucial element for producing new products, especially because aluminum can be recycled infinitely without diminishing quality. Making recycled aluminum is 94 percent less carbon intensive than making new or primary aluminum, so recycling yields enormous benefits.

In most industrial markets such as transportation or building and construction, aluminum recycling rates are well above 90 percent, but the recycling rate for the aluminum can hovers below 50 percent—we can do better.

Historic U.S. investment drives need for more metal

Collective investments over the last decade in new and expanded U.S. aluminum operations by members of the Aluminum Association (AA) and Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) totals more than $7 billion. The aluminum industry had a historic year in 2022 as more investments in the U.S. were announced in a 12-month period than in the previous several decades.

Three new greenfield aluminum rolling mills to fabricate metal for the beverage can, automotive and other markets have been announced recently. The last time such a mill opened in the U.S., Ronald Reagan was president.

All these new facilities will require ample scrap metal to feed their operations, and one of the best and most obvious sources is used aluminum beverage cans (UBCs).

Each year, Americans throw away around 45 billion aluminum beverage cans—that’s 11 12-packs for every person in the United States. Sending nearly $800 million worth of aluminum to the landfill each year is bad for the economy, the environment and supply chain resilience because it makes us more reliant on imported material.

Committed to increased UBC collection

Despite being the most recycled beverage container in the U.S., the industry recently set ambitious UBC recycling targets to recover more of this metal. These targets include going from a 45 percent recycling rate in 2020 to 70 percent by 2030 and to greater than 90 percent by 2050.

pillars of action to increase ubc recovery

In mid-2022, CMI published the “Aluminum Beverage Can Recycling Primer and Roadmap” that details how the aluminum beverage can was made to be recycled, how it became the most recycled beverage container in the U.S and how the industry will achieve its aggressive recycling targets.

The plan to achieve increased recycling rates is distilled into four pillars of action:

catalyzing the passage and implementation of well-designed recycling refund (i.e., deposit) systems;
increasing and improving household and away-from-home recycling;
ensuring proper sortation at recycling centers; and
increasing consumer awareness of the importance of aluminum beverage can recycling and the ability to collect and sell UBCs for cash.

New refund systems are critical

The roadmap makes it clear that new recycling refund systems are vital to reaching the recycling rate targets. Models in the roadmap found that a well-designed recycling refund system would increase the aluminum beverage can recycling rate to well above a 90 percent—a 48 percent increase. This is unsurprising considering research by the Container Recycling Institute, based in Culver City, California, found aluminum beverage cans sold with a deposit have a 77 percent recycling rate, while those sold without a deposit have a 36 percent recycling rate. No other policy can more quickly and effectively raise aluminum beverage can recycling rates and capture UBCs.

Recognizing the importance of policy shift, AA and CMI have stepped up their advocacy with the creation of a Recycling Refund Task Force. Both associations asserted their positive position on recycling refunds in March 2020 with a joint op-ed articulating what a well-designed recycling refund program would look like.

how more beverage cans can be captured in the U.S.

Since then, the aluminum can industry’s leadership on recycling refunds has continued with articles in MarketWatch and Real Clear Energy alongside nonprofit and industry partners. AA and CMI also were two of the dozen organizations that endorsed recycling refunds best practices on the RecyclingRefundsWork.org microsite. The groups commissioned research that explores the benefits and administration of variable deposit amounts as well as research that analyzes the fairness of how private sector responsible parties are assessed fees to support the recycling refund system.

Importantly, recycling refund programs enjoy broad, bipartisan support. A recent national survey found that 81 percent of respondents said they support recycling refund programs. Support from Republicans, Democrats and Independents was all above 70 percent and support from the states that already have such programs was even higher.

AA and CMI actively are working with like-minded organizations to educate lawmakers on the benefits of recycling refunds and to advance bills that would establish a well-designed system. Efforts are underway to support new legislation in states that do not yet have such systems and to undertake needed reforms in some deposit states to ensure the programs are in line with best practice principles.

Activities in the other pillars of action

While new recycling refund systems are essential, our organizations also are pursuing other efforts to capture billions of used aluminum beverage cans.

AA and CMI are continuing their long-standing support of The Recycling Partnership (TRP), based in Washington. AA and CMI were founding members of the Curbside Value Partnership, which ultimately became TRP. Since 2014, TRP has diverted 770 million incremental pounds of recyclables from landfills, placed 1.3 million recycling carts in communities and reached more than 100 million households. Still, considering only 53 percent of U.S. households have curbside recycling automatically provided, many UBCs within households never make it into the recycling stream. CMI found that if every U.S. household had access to curbside recycling and was educated on proper recycling methods, the U.S. aluminum beverage can recycling rate would jump from 45 percent to 67 percent.

CMI also is targeting large events to promote UBC collection. Most recently, CMI supported a new recycling initiative at Mardi Gras to promote can recycling. This was an opportunity to capture many UBCs as New Orleans permits people to consume alcoholic beverages on the street without offering public space recycling. Nearly 143,000 UBCs were collected and sold to a local metal recycling facility owned by EMR, generating $1,927, which CMI matched and donated to local charities and residents.

CMI is working to improve technology at material recovery facilities to capture more missorted cans. Accurate sorting could increase the U.S. recycling rate by 3 percent. CMI beverage can manufacturer members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings funded grants through TRP in 2021 for can-capture equipment. Once the equipment is installed, an additional 71 million beverage cans will be captured annually. With further funding from Ardagh and Crown, CMI plans to catalyze additional can-capture equipment this year with grants and an innovative leasing model.

AA, CMI and their members also are sharing the aluminum beverage can’s many sustainability advantages through various communication efforts. There is a concerted effort to have more beverage companies in the United States adopt the “Metal Recycles Forever” logo on aluminum beverage cans in place of “Please Recycle” because research shows messaging that emphasizes the transformational nature of the material leads to higher recycling rates.

An essential component

Recycling is essential to the modern aluminum business. The U.S. aluminum industry relies on the scrap material generated by recycling as a crucial input for producing new products, such as aluminum beverage cans. Additionally, scrap is key to reducing the energy use and carbon impact of aluminum products.

Rather than throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars worth of UBCs every year, AA and CMI are investing in organizations and activities to capture more UBCs in the recycling system and keep them in the supply chain. The results will be reduced environmental impact and strengthened domestic aluminum supply chains, both of which are important to the new aluminum mills being built in the United States.

Scott Breen is vice president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, and Nadya Ally is sustainability director at the Aluminum Association. They can be contacted respectively via email at sbreen@cancentral.com and nally@aluminum.org.

The benefits of improved UBC recovery