Thanks to grants funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings (Crown), material recovery facilities (MRFs) in Alabama and California now have equipment that are estimated to capture more than 31 million aluminium beverage cans annually for recycling that otherwise likely would have been missorted or sent to landfill.

These are the seventh and eighth grants that AMP and Crown have financed in Can Manufacturers Institute’s (CMI) MRF can capture programme. The Recycling Partnership has administered all eight grants. Collectively, this investment has funded equipment that will capture nearly 150 million aluminum beverage cans annually.

“The best way, in the immediate term, to collect millions of additional cans for recycling is through capturing missorted cans at material recovery facilities,” said John Rost, Senior Vice President of Crown Technology, Global Sustainability & Regulatory Affairs, Crown Holdings. 

“Crown is pleased to help finance equipment that quickly delivers so much more recycled aluminium. We can then utilise that material to build on our industry’s 71% average recycled content in aluminium beverage cans.”

 The impact of these millions of cans recycled each year is enormous. According to CMI’s can recycling impact calculator, the more than 30 million aluminium beverage cans recycled each year from the two most recent grants will generate more than $500,000 in revenue, avoiding the CO2 equivalent emissions of driving more than 7.6 million miles. 

Further, with the nearly 150 million aluminium beverage cans recycled annually from all the grants to-date, the impact represents approximately $2.3 million in revenue and energy savings equivalent to powering more than 6,000 U.S. homes for an entire year.

“Missorted cans are a missed opportunity to drive additional revenue for the U.S. recycling system, strengthen the domestic circular economy, and deliver carbon savings,” said Jens Irion, CEO, AMP-North America. “Ardagh Metal Packaging is proud to do its part to ensure more aluminum beverage cans are properly recycled.”