Aluminium drink cans collected after use, baled or loose, and recycled in closed loop back into can sheet — one of the most efficiently recycled metal products in the world.
Aluminium drink cans collected after use, baled or loose, and recycled in closed loop back into can sheet — one of the most efficiently recycled metal products in the world.
A beverage can is two alloys — a 3000-series body and a 5000-series lid — and when cans are collected together the mix is close to what can-sheet mills need. UBC arrives from deposit schemes, kerbside collection and sorting plants, usually baled to a specified density, and is bought by weight with deductions for moisture, steel cans, plastic and non-aluminium contamination.
The ReMA grade requires the cans to be free of steel, lead, bottles, dirt and liquid, and sets limits on how much foreign material a bale may contain.
UBC is de-lacquered in a rotary kiln and remelted into can-sheet ingot at dedicated plants in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. It also goes to secondary smelters as a wrought feed. The United States exports large tonnages to Mexico, South Korea and India; Brazil runs one of the highest can-recycling rates in the world and consumes its own.
Code: ReMA Taldon (baled or loose UBC)
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.