Aluminum Cans & Ring Pulls
Recyclable?
Blue Bins & Chutes
Other Recycling
Recommended
Recycling Bins & Chutes
CANS & RING PULLS
Aluminum is not only welcome in blue bins but helps make the national recycling programme less expensive to operators as they can recoup some costs from aluminum sales.
Clean and rust-free? Recycle.
Rusty or uncleanable? Trash.
Never put rusty metal in the recycling bin.
Blue Bins
Segregated Bins
Alternative
Specialised Recycling
CANS & RING PULLS
Aluminum cans are a very valuable recyclable - meaning that the price paid for them per kg is higher than most other disposable materials that end up in recycling bins. Because of this, it is easy to recycle aluminum just about anywhere.
Do not remove the ring pull. Leave it on the can.
If you remove it, it is unlikely to be recycled and may get filtered out like other small items.
Reverse Vending Machines (Recycle N Save)
Tzu Chi Sustainability Day
Karung Guni
Cash for Trash
Alternative
Freecycle / Give Away
RING PULLS
From time to time, schools or art projects collect these to make into things like wallets and handbags.
We do not recommend you collect ring pulls waiting to hear about such projects as they are very rare. But if you already have a collection, you might be willing to wait to donate to such an initiative.
Join our mailing list and be informed when we hear of local donation drives for these tabs.
Art Don't Throw
Alternative
Buy or Sell
RING PULLS
It is possible to sell these online.
Usually people sell in bulk by weight or by unit for about 2-3 cents per ring pull.
Carousell
Alternative
Charitable Donation
RING PULLS
There are some charities around the world that accept donations of ring pulls to make handbags & accessories. However, to our knowledge, there are none based in Singapore.
Do NOT mail your tabs overseas: it uses more money and carbon than the value of these small bits of aluminum.
If you happen to be in a country where such collections are made, again consider the volume of what you are giving vs the cost of getting to the collection point.
- Upskill Foundation - Tondo, Manila, The Philippines
- Purple Community Fund - Southampton, UK
There are, however, local groups that do tie up with such overseas charities and may do local drives (Example SJI).
Join our mailing list and be informed when we hear of local donation drives for these items.
Alternative
Tips & Suggestions
CANS
Unless you are putting aluminum cans in a reverse vending machine (where the barcode must be visible), crush the cans it so they take up less space in the bin.
DO NOT remove the tab / ring pull or it won't get recycled (small items are filtered out and cannot be compressed into bales).
Info & Insights
Sorry they don't make artificial limbs from ring pulls
It is widely believed that charities collect these tabs to be made into prosthetic limbs. This was true a decade ago but today is no longer the case. In the region, it was a Thai charity (Prostheses Foundation of HRH the Princess Mother's) that once asked for such donations. However they have been asking people to stop sending tabs FOR YEARS.
Improvements in materials for prostheses as well as ISO standards means this aluminum is no longer used. Sending aluminum is also an inefficient method to make donations and burdens them with the task of taking the metal to scrap dealers. So they now ask donors who make such collections to sell the metal and send them the cash raised. This is easier for them and avoids all the costs of shipping and handling.
Most people are unaware of this because the info coming from the charity is almost all in Thai (and honestly, without the technology of Google Image translate, their infographic makes it look like they still take tabs. But really they don't).
tl;dr: Want to support them? Send cash.
Did you know?
Aluminum can be recycled infinitely. But that does not mean it is perfect. Manufacturing and even recycling of aluminum produces toxic byproducts that are difficult to deal with and is extremely energy intensive.
Manufacturing
- Mining of bauxite and other raw materials releases toxins into the environment.
- Manufacturing is harmful to the environment and to the people who live near the mining, refining, or smelting operations.
- It takes a lot of energy to produce aluminum
Recycling
- Recycling aluminum produces chemicals that may be released into the air.
- It also produces a waste product called "dross" that is highly toxic and has to be buried in landfills. This dross must be tightly sealed in containers so that it doesn’t leak out and enter groundwater. Aluminum dross has caused serious environmental and public health challenges.
