Advice to Consumers
You have 3 options to recycle cans
The recycling industry encourages everyone to "separate at source". This means that you should separate the used cans, paper, glass, PET and plastic recyclables in your home from your other food waste, and then use a disposal method as explained below:
In your suburb or the area you live/work in do you have?
| A. |
Collection of recyclables in your suburb - via a system where you subscribe to a recyclable bag collection or have a free recyclable bag collection service: |
Collect your used aluminium cans in a clear plastic bag and separate your household rubbish in a black bag. You don’t need to wash or rinse the cans – but if you do, it will keep your recycling bin or bag pest free.
Once your bag is filled, put it outside on the day of collection.
| B. |
No collection of recyclables in your area: |
Collect your used cans in a special bag or bin. Please DON’T put the cans in with your household rubbish black bag– it will go to the landfill and the value of the can will be lost
Take the bag of cans to a “drop off” recycling centre; most garden refuse dump sites will take packaging recyclables. Collect-a-Can often have bins there for you
Or Donate them to a local charity or school with a collection centre
Or Sell your cans to a “buy-back centre” – these small scrap metal and packaging recyclers will usually want quantities of over 5kg (about 300 cans)
Or Locate a “drop off” or “buy back” location on www.mywaste.co.za
| C. |
You want an informal sector waste collector to benefit financially from your cans - your empty cans create income for a fellow citizen: |
Collect your used cans in a special bag or bin.
Find a collector in your area and donate them to him/her weekly. Cans are worth between 5c and 10c to them per unit and are amongst the most valuable of all packaging waste.
Some Interesting Facts On The Used Aluminium Can:
- There are about 75 used cans in 1 kilogram of cans
- The average can weighs 14g.
- Used cans are cleaned of foreign materials (sand, glass, plastics and other foreign objects) by large waste and scrap companies and then compressed and baled for supply to Hulamin