Thanks to grants funded by Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings (Crown), material recovery facilities (MRFs) in Alabama and California now have equipment that will likely capture over 31 million aluminum beverage cans annually for recycling which otherwise may have been missorted or sent to landfill.
These are the seventh and eighth grants that AMP and Crown have financed in the Can Manufacturers Institute’s (CMI) MRF can capture program. The Recycling Partnership has administered all eight grants. Collectively, this investment has funded equipment that will capture nearly 150 million aluminum beverage cans annually.
“The best way, in the immediate term, to collect millions of additional cans for recycling is through capturing missorted cans at material recovery facilities,” said John Rost, senior vice president of Crown Technology, global sustainability & regulatory affairs, Crown Holdings.
The impact of these millions of cans recycled each year is enormous. According to CMI’s can recycling impact calculator, the 30 million-plus aluminum beverage cans recycled each year from the two most recent grants will generate more than $500,000 in revenue, avoiding the CO2 equivalent emissions of driving more than 7.6 million miles. With the nearly 150 million aluminum beverage cans recycled annually from all the grants to-date, the impact represents approximately $2.3 million in revenue and energy savings equivalent to powering more than 6,000 U.S. homes for an entire year.
“Missorted cans are a missed opportunity to drive additional revenue for the U.S. recycling system, strengthen the domestic circular economy, and deliver carbon savings,” said Jens Irion, chief executive officer, AMP-North America.
The following is more information about the newest grants:
- Baldwin County, Alabama’s publicly owned MRF, serves 20,000 households. The can capture grant helps finance the installation of an eddy current separator at a new MRF built with public ownership. An eddy current uses magnetic forces to separate out non-metallic metal like aluminum beverage cans from other non-metallic materials. This installation prevents missorting by ensuring a best-in-class design for capturing aluminum beverage cans and will result in 516,000 pounds (17.9 million individual cans) of new aluminum captured per year. This MRF is also receiving a grant from The Recycling Partnership for equipment to sort PET and Polypropylene as well as another grant from the Partnership to improve access to recycling collection.
- The Cal-Waste Recovery Systems MRF in Galt, California serves 243,000 households. The can capture grant embeds AI and new recognition technology into sorting equipment to increase can capture. This upgrade will result in 388,000 pounds (13.5 million individual cans) of new aluminum captured per year. This MRF is also receiving a grant from The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition.
Published April 2025
