What it Becomes

Beverage containers, such as cans and plastic containers, are recycled into different things based on the materials they are made from.

Aluminum Cans

Pop and beer cans are made from a 100% recyclable material called aluminum.  When these cans are recycled, the aluminum is cleaned up, and melted down to form more aluminum pop cans.

PET

The clear, blue-tinted and green plastic containers that usually contain water or pop are made from Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET.  This material is sent to a recycler, where it is made into pellets to make non-food PET containers, fleece jackets, carpets, or turned into sheets of plastic for manufacturing different products.

Milk Jugs

Milk Jugs are made from a material called High-Density Polyethylene or HDPE.  This material is sent to a recycler, where it is used to make dish soap, oil, plastic lumber, tables, roadside curbs, benches, truck cargo liners, trash receptacles or to be remanufactured it into non-food HDPE containers.

Glass

Regular clear and colored glass is crushed at the plant.  It is usually used to make reflective beads for the paint used on roadways, or to make fiberglass insulation.

Refillable Beer

Dark Brown beer bottles are called  Industry Standard Bottles or ISB, and are separated from the rest of the glass beverage containers.  The ISBs are sent back to different beer breweries in order to be cleaned and re-filled

Bi-Metal

Beverage containers resembling food cans are made of two different metals: a steel body with an aluminum top.  These containers are melted down and used to make rebar or car parts.

Paperboard

Milk and Juice Cartons are made from paperboard.  Paperboard is made from a paper-based carton coated with a polymer, usually polyethylene.  Paperboard is recycled back into pulp for recycled paper products.

Tetra Brik

Other juices and milk are sold in beverage containers known as Tetra Paks or Tetra Brik, which is part paperboard (~70%), part polyethylene or PE (~22%) and part aluminum foil (~5%).  The paperboard is recovered and recycled into paper products, leaving the PE and aluminum to be recovered and recycled.