
Hundreds of US cities are killing or scaling back their recycling programs - howard941
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/18/18271470/us-cities-stop-recycling-china-ban-on-recycles
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jak92
Honestly, in terms of house hold waste, aluminum is the material that makes
sense to recycle.

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mc32
Read recently only about 30% of aluminum can sheet aluminum is from recycled
aluminum cans. So recycled cans are piling up waiting for prices to go back
up.

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theandrewbailey
Aluminum has more applications than cans. How many cans are recycled into
aircraft or cars?

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mc32
That’s the thing, aircraft mfgs (and possibly car) prefer new aluminum to Al
made from recycled cans (maybe getting impurities out is too expensive?)

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lohszvu
Aluminum cans are poor quality metal. The tabs to open them however, are much
better. DIY people that melt down metals avoid aluminum cans because of all
the slag produced when melting.

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magduf
I doubt there's anything wrong with the metal; the problem with cans is that
they have a coating on the inside to keep the liquid out of contact with bare
aluminum. Obviously, it's pretty hard to separate the two without melting the
can completely.

The outside of the can, of course, has paint on it.

The tabs are pure aluminum without any protective coating or paint.

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tracer4201
This will sound like it’s made up but it’s not. When I lived in Seattle a
couple years ago (Belltown), my apartment building had a policy of no
recyclables or things that are harmful to the environment in the trash.

It was somehow enforced by the city. I didn’t think too much of it until they
fined all the tenants because someone was putting stuff in the trash they
weren’t supposed to. The city actually hired people to dig in the trash and
figure out where it came from.

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HelloMcFly
I lived in Seattle. I know they did this when composting became required, and
if they saw recyclables or compost materials through your trash bag they could
fine you. They were not supposed to be opening your trash bags though.

