Aluminum and tin are non-ferrous metals which means they do not contain iron. Among other things, they are used to make many types of food and beverage cans. These cans are easy and inexpensive to recycle.

Why recycle cans?

Cans in the landfill are a wasted resource. Recycling metal requires significantly fewer resources than virgin metal extraction. It is much less environmentally damaging and less expensive than mining, concentrating and smelting the raw materials.

Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours. Over 173 million aluminum cans were disposed of at the landfill in King County in 2008. The energy that could have been saved by recycling those cans could power a television for 59,528 years!