Annaco Kicks Off Earth Day Promotion

Scrap metal dealer Annaco Inc., Akron, Ohio, has kicked off its annual Earth Day promotion, when it pays premium prices for aluminum used beverage cans (UBCs).

This is the eleventh year the Akron scrap metal company has been holding an Earth Day promotion offering higher scale prices for UBCs. The higher purchase price this year will be good for the entire “Earth Week” of April 15-22. After the promotion, the price for UBCs will drop back to a more standard scale price, according to Annaco nonferrous manager Brian Carlone.

The promotion greatly increases the flow of UBCs into Annaco, according to Carlone and Annaco executive vice president William Lowery. Last year, they estimated that Annaco would take in 100 tons of UBCs during the week, compared to an average week’s intake of 10 tons.

On Friday afternoon of the 2001 promotional week, with weather alternating between drizzle and hard rains, a steady line of cars, pick-up trucks and vans lined up outside of the Annaco UBC operations building.

Bags full of UBCs are weighed, torn open, and the UBCs are sent through a sorting process that removes any steel or bi-metal cans. They are then conveyed to a Lindemann baler.

“A lot of people in this area store up their cans for most of the year waiting for this week,” says Lowery. “We start getting calls as early as February from people who want to know which week the promotion will be taking place.”