If you want to do your part for the environment, recycling is always a good idea. But if you throw away a number of aluminum, steel, or foil cans, you risk making costly mistakes that harm him instead of good.

You wouldn’t be alone if you were. This is an easy mistake to make. Metal products are part of most recyclable materials and more than 90% of products made from steel can be recycled, according to the American and Iron Steel Institute. Aluminum foil, pots, pans, hangers, and even small appliances can all be thrown out at the curb. Since metals are non-renewable natural resources (they cannot be replaced as quickly as they are used), their quantity is limited, so it is important to send your cans for processing.

Properly recycling cans, bottles and foil is also key to reducing your carbon footprint. Knowing what to do with cans after use and disposing of them properly will keep your local exchange running. Here’s how to recycle your metal cans and what not to do.

To find out more, here’s what you need to know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

What types of metal cans can be recycled?

All metal cans are recyclable if they have been cleaned. Examples include:

• Beverage cans, such as soda and beer, including tablets
• Paint cans
• Canned products
• Aerosol bombs

Cleaning metal cans

Don’t do this: Throw the cans into the recycling bin before cleaning them. If food or liquids remain in the cans, they can contaminate an entire batch of recyclables, rendering them useless. Unrinsed cans can also attract cockroaches, rodents, and other nasty critters that you don’t want crawling around your trash cans.

Instead, do this: Make sure all cans are free of liquids or food that could be left in the container. You can do this by rinsing the can when you’re done.

What to do with the lids

Preserved: Don’t do it remove the lid only halfway before placing it in the recycling bin. Instead, remove the lid from the can completely and place it inside the can (after rinsing). Place the lids only in an empty box made of the same metal material.

Aerosol cans: Spray can lids are usually plastic, so you need to remove them before putting the cans in the trash. Plastic lids should be used with other recyclable plastic materials, as the heat applied during the metal recycling process will completely destroy any recyclable plastic mixed in the batch.

Should I remove paper labels before recycling cans?

Generally, you don’t need to remove paper labels from metal or aluminum cans before tossing them into the recycling bin. When cans are recycled, the heat applied to the metal burns off the paper and adhesive glue entirely, meaning you don’t have to worry that your contributions could contaminate the batch.

However, there are other cases in which you may want to remove paper labels before recycling something. You can remove these labels from your metal cans and throw them away with your recycling paper if you don’t like the idea of ​​the labels turning to ash in the recycling process. More importantly, you TO DO You must remove the paper labels if you are recycling plastic, as the recycling process for metals and plastics is different.

If in doubt, it is best to contact your local recycling center. A Reddit user familiar with recycling facilities pointed out that, although it is important to understand the mechanics of recycling, each recycling plant has its own machines with different capacities – they are not standardized and therefore it is not simple to give a universal answer.

By calling your local plant quickly, you will be sure to know what can and cannot be recycled, and what could contaminate a batch of recyclables.

What else should I do?

• Avoid puncturing aerosol cans to remove remaining liquid.
• Make sure all paint is dry or completely rinsed before recycling. If you have leftover paint or other hazardous waste, take it to a drop-off center near you.
• Do not crush aluminum cans before recycling as they may contaminate the batch.

For more information on recycling, here how to recycle plastic correctly And the right way to recycle paper and cardboard.

Metal Recycling FAQ