Hey ! Friday Nox ! Time to celebrate . With beer . Since we already make love what happens to us once we ’ve popped the top on a few too many cold ones — hello , hangover — let ’s take a look at what bump to that can after you ’ve pounded it ; chance are , it will be less than a few month until it ’s already back chilling out in a fridge somewhere .
look-alike viaRecology SF
Duh for many reasons , not least of which is the material is practically implore to be reprocess ; it is incredibly , almost mind - bogglingly resilient . Though it direct quite a bit of energy toproduce aluminumin the first position , once that mine bauxite ore is scavenge , crushed , tasteful , and processed , it can just keep on keeping on getting melted down and see the light , without forego any of its strength or raw properties in the process . Aluminum can moderately much live for - ev - er , if we permit it . Whoa . Considering that just two years ago , Americans were chuck out2.9 million tonsof aluminum per twelvemonth — most of it our darling potable cans — and we recycle a small over one-half of that , we ’ve get a ways to go .
Photograph ofSunset Parkby Nick Stango
It all starts with a massive rubbish dump from a big ol’ hand truck , into huge pile like the one above atSunset Parkin Brooklyn , our nation ’s imposingly efficient , largest commingled — think of paper , credit card , and alloy — recycling plant ( which Giz had a chance tovisitearlier this year ) .
calculate on the type and size of the facilities , sorting between the unlike form of discards is done with a combo of conveyor belts , shredder , screens , magnets , and yes , actual human physical contact . Each of the materials will ultimately be recycled in entirely different way , so the honorable the separation at the start , the more efficacious the end - game .
At the Anheuser - Busch Recycling Corp in Heyward , California
Once everything ’s been sorted and there ’s a bunch of on the loose aluminum all together , all that smashed hooey is dribble into acrusher . You do not want to flow into a crusher . The crusher is very , very powerful . Everything in the crusher is urge into a perfect cube by a gigantic hydraulic panel that would flatten you in a second .
Those box look like this .
Image viaWikipedia
Can sheet manufacturers likeLogan Aluminumtake those chunks , slice up them up into teensy part , then heat them into a liquid …
That is then pour into casting molds to become ingot .
These ingots are not just bitty bullion .
But after the top and bottom are scrap down and smoothed out , these glob are heat up and make upwards of 30 pass over a cast conveyor whack , which smooshes them down but keeps their width the same .
A finish factory flattens them into sheets that are a tops slim one - tenth of an inch dense , which are then rolled up and ready for inspection .
Eventually , these babe are transport to manufacturer and ready to be made into your next Bud . The whole closed - loop process can be make out in three month or less , which yield a whole Modern perspective on your brewski ( or sal soda soda , for the teetotalers ) . Imagine the spot it ’s been , and oh the place it will go . Cheers ! [ Logan Aluminum;Cool Hunting;EPA;How Stuff Works;Reading Rainbow ]
Lead image viaFlickr
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