The Alumina Chronicles:
The Impact On Recycling Of Aluminum Cans
That Use Non-Aluminum Labels In The United States Of America

June of 2019

Aluminum cans are among the most recycled products in the United States of America.  Cans used for beverages – typically beer and soda – are key to the success of the recycling industry.

A potential problem that is considered by some today to be minor may eventually turn out to be a bigger problem in the future.  A problem that may directly impact the recycling of aluminum cans in the United States.

The vast majority of aluminum cans appear to have labels printed directly on the cans.  This is especially true for the soda industry and producers of large volumes of beer.

Some aluminum cans, though, do not include labels printed directly on the cans.  Instead, these cans have another non-aluminum product added to their exteriors.  In some cases, this additional product is a sleeve made of plastic;  in other cases, this additional product is a pressure-sensitive sticker made of plastic.

The major difference between these two types of labels is that a plastic sleeve is typically shrink-wrapped around the entire can, while a pressure-sensitive sticker typically covers most, but not all of a can.

The craft beer industry, in particular, has been making use of these additional non-aluminum products as labels for their beverages.

The additional layer of plastic appears to have only a minor impact within the recycling industry today, primarily in the initial stage of recycling at material recovery facilities.  Overall, though, the additional layer of plastic added to aluminum cans does not appear to be a major impediment to the recycling of aluminum cans at this time. 

In the future?

That’s a real question that remains to be answered.

Let’s start with why some businesses utilize these plastic labels.

Economics plays the major role in the decisions to use non-aluminum labels on aluminum cans.  In addition, some craft breweries view the non-aluminum labels as offering greater flexibility, versatility, and creativity in label designs.

According to several leaders within the beer industry, there has been an increased demand by consumers for craft beer and an increase in demand for those craft beers to be available for purchase in light-weight aluminum cans.

In the past 25 years, there has been substantial growth in the number of craft beer breweries in the United States.  According to statistics from the Brewers Association, there were less than 1,000 regional craft breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs throughout the nation in 1994.  By 2018, there were more than 7,000 regional craft breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs in the United States.

To put these numbers in perspective, statistics from the Brewers Association indicate that the number of large/non-craft beer breweries has also increased, but not at the same level as the smaller craft beer breweries.  According to this organization, there were 46 large/non-craft beer breweries in the United States in 2014;  that number increased to 104 in 2018.

“The Brewers Association is an organization of brewers, for brewers and by brewers,” according to the organization’s website.  “More than 5,036 U.S. brewery members and 46,000 members of the American Homebrewers Association are joined by members of the allied trade, beer wholesalers, retailers, individuals, other associate members and the Brewers Association staff to make up the Brewers Association.”

“Small volume producers struggle to meet the minimum order requirements for preprinted cans,” explained Mr. Paul Gatza, Senior Vice President of the Professional Brewing Division of the Brewers Association.  “Challenges include capital investment as well adequate storage space for full orders.  Craft brewers also utilize plastic sleeves to satisfy consumer demand for small batch seasonal or local products.”

“Most craft breweries in the United States are modest in size,” stated Mr. Luke Truman, Facilities Manager at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, and a member of the Brewers Association Sustainability Sub-Committee.  “The typical small craft brewery may produce about 600 barrels of beer each year.  That total production may include a couple core brands and a few seasonal brews.  Perhaps half of all of their beer production is consumed as draft beer.  Some of the remaining beer is sold in glass bottles.  As such, the demand for aluminum cans is modest for many of the individual craft breweries.”

In the United States, each barrel of beer equates to 31 gallons of beer, according to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury.

If a typical small craft brewery produces 600 barrels of beer annually, they are producing roughly 18,600 gallons of beer each year.  If half of that is consumed as draft beer – served directly in a glass or a cup – that leaves about 9,300 gallons of beer that need to be packaged in bottles and/or cans.

While the volume of beer packaged in aluminum cans may be small for a specific brand or an individual craft brewery, the overall demand for aluminum cans for craft brew has steadily increased because of the increase in the number of breweries and the increase in the number of individual brands of beer – all of which need specific labels.

Mr. Gatza confirmed that “The use of plastic sleeved aluminum cans is becoming more prevalent across a number of different beverage industries as the number of small producers increases.”

“Small craft beer producers must deal with the dilemma that their needs don’t meet the minimum order requirements of many can manufacturers for preprinted aluminum cans,” explained Mr. Truman.  “It is not unusual for a brewery to be faced with a requirement to purchase a truckload of preprinted aluminum cans all at one time.”

A truckload of aluminum cans could include upwards of 150,000 to 200,000 cans, depending on the manufacturer, the size of the cans, the size of the truck, and how the cans are loaded within the truck.

For some small craft breweries, a truckload of aluminum cans might represent several years’ worth of packaging for their beer production.

“These minimum requirements create major problems for many in the craft beer industry,” Mr. Truman continued.  “Most of the smaller producers don’t have the capital to make such large purchases of preprinted cans all at one time and don’t have the space to store all of these preprinted cans.  In addition, the lead time can be quite lengthy – sometimes, months – to order preprinted aluminum cans.”

“At a high level, we do not like doing sleeves or stickers on our cans,” stated Mr. Derek Detenber, Chief Marketing Officer at Artisanal Brewing Ventures in Charlotte, North Carolina.  “The limiting factor is an industry wide factor.  The can suppliers have really large minimum quantities for printed cans.  Printed cans are better for consumers, much better from a line speed, and manufacturing process.  We certainly prefer to have printed cans, but for small batch releases or for smaller breweries, it's an issue that starts with the can suppliers.”

Some in the craft brewing industry have found ways around these difficulties.

“We do not use sleeves on our beer cans,” stated Mr. Jesse Claeys, Public Relations Coordinator at New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado.  “As part of our commitment to sustainability, we would never release a package type that would have difficulty entering the recycle stream and/or be rejected by recycling centers.”

According to the Brewers Association “annual list of the top producing craft brewing companies and overall brewing companies in the United States, based on beer sales volume” for 2018,

New Belgium Brewing Company is the 4th largest craft brewing company in the United States and the 11th largest brewing company overall in the nation;  Artisanal Brewing Ventures is the 11th largest craft brewing company and the 20th largest brewing company overall;  and Allagash Brewing Company is the 30th largest craft brewing company and the 40th largest brewing company overall.

Fat Tire, a beer brand of New Belgium Brewing Company, uses aluminum cans with artwork printed directly
on the cans. This specific craft brewing company does not utilize plastic sleeves or pressure-sensitive stickers
on its aluminum cans.  (Photograph is provided courtesy of New Belgium Brewing Company.)

“Shrink-sleeved cans are indeed problematic,” stated Mr. Scott Mouw, Senior Director of Strategy and Research at The Recycling Partnership.

Problems have developed, for example, at some material recovery facilities (MRFs) as they strive to separate aluminum cans from other recyclable items as well as contaminated products that need to be landfilled.

Recycling aluminum cans with plastic sleeves and pressure-sensitive sticker labels sometimes impacts other types of plastic being recycled.  “A large PET reclaimer [explained]...that shrink sleeves can ruin their batches too,” stated Ms. Beth Schmitt, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships at The Recycling Partnership.  “PVC is viewed as a contaminant in development of FDA-grade PET – so it’s not just cans, since a few of these cans get mixed into bales of PET coming through their system.”

“I’ve heard from some MRFs that the PET sleeve is incorrectly pulled out by PET opticals,” stated Ms. Megan Daum, Senior Director of Sustainability at the American Beverage Association.  In addition, Ms. Daum stated that some MRFs “do not like these sleeves both because there’s the risk of them getting baled incorrectly and also because they affect their pricing on the backend.  The weight of the sleeve is significant so, when you’re buying a bale of cans with these sleeves, your numbers for how much aluminum you’re getting are skewed.”

Overall, though, Ms. Daum indicated that she has “also heard that this [the use of non-aluminum labels on aluminum cans] is in small enough numbers [at this time] that it’s not a problem.”

That is even more likely in the ten states that have container deposit laws, according to Mr. Truman of Allagash Brewing Company and the Brewers Association Sustainability Sub-Committee.  “The volume of all aluminum cans being recycled is higher in these redemption states,” stated Mr. Truman.  “The impact of the volume of aluminum cans with plastic sleeves and pressure-sensitive labels is thus likely reduced in those states.”

One potential solution – having consumers remove the non-aluminum labels from aluminum cans prior to recycling the aluminum cans, for example – would likely not work well in those ten states with container deposit laws.  That’s because, typically, a consumer has to prove that the aluminum cans being brought to the redemption centers were purchased in that specific state.  Removing the label in advance means that many consumers would not be able to retrieve their container deposits.

After sorting is done at redemption centers and at material recovery facilities, aluminum cans are then sent on to businesses that melt the aluminum cans to create new sheets of aluminum and new aluminum products, including new aluminum cans.

The use of plastic labels on aluminum cans does not stop those aluminum cans from being recycled, according to Mr. Scott McCarty, Director of Strategic Communications at Ball Beverage Packaging North & Central America.  “Ball Corporation is a provider of metal packaging for beverages, foods and household products, and of aerospace and other technologies and services to commercial and governmental customers,” according to the firm’s website.

Mr. McCarty indicated that the plastic sleeves simply “burn off” as the aluminum cans are melted, and at the current volume of aluminum cans with plastic labels, this does not create a fire hazard.

“Sleeves are typically used when the order volume is very small and the brand cannot use properly printed cans because their order size does not meet the minimum volume,” stated Mr. McCarty.  “Once these brands become bigger, we expect them to switch to regular printed cans. Sleeved cans, as long as their concentration is not overwhelming, can be treated by existing technology at remelting plants – in many cases they have a shredding and delacquering stage before the aluminum gets to the furnace – so the sleeve is burned off and does not affect the recyclability of the can.”

Novelis recycles bales of crushed aluminum cans, seen in the photograph above, into
aluminum sheets, seen in the photo below, that are then utilized to create new
aluminum products, including new aluminum cans.  (Photos are provided courtesy of Novelis.)

“At this point, the sleeves are such a small portion of the market that we are monitoring the issue and will react if and when this becomes more significant,” stated Mr. Michael Touhill, spokesperson for Novelis.  This firm “is the largest producer of aluminum beverage can sheet and the world’s largest recycler of used beverage cans (UBCs), recycling roughly 70 billion UBCs each year.”

“The aluminum cans with these sleeves can be recycled,” continued Mr. Touhill.  “And we support beverage companies that are choosing to use the most sustainable beverage packaging available – infinitely recyclable aluminum.”

The actual impact on the aluminum recycling industry of the use of non-aluminum labels on aluminum cans is limited, thus far. 

Whether that will continue to be the case is currently seen more through informal impressions rather than full research studies.

“[We are] aware of anecdotal reports of plastic sleeves affecting automated sorting systems in material recovery facilities, but [are] not aware of any published reports or data addressing the issue,” stated Mr. Gatza of the Brewers Association.  “Similarly, Brewers Association has heard anecdotal reports of decreased value of recycled aluminum due to plastic contamination, but is not aware of any published reports.”

There are some studies underway to determine the actual impact on the aluminum recycling industry.

“Brewers Association is aware of separate coalitions in Colorado and New England that are gathering information to help understand the issue,” continued Mr. Gatza.  “With the lack of data on this relatively new issue, it is difficult to make an informed answer to the question [about the impact on recycling in the future if the plastic sleeves become utilized even more].”

A study on the use of non-aluminum labels on aluminum cans is also underway, according to Mr. Truman of Allagash Brewing Company and the Brewers Association Sustainability Sub-Committee, at the Sustainable Business Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

A future installment of The Alumina Chronicles will detail the results of these and other research efforts on this issue as well as potential solutions that might be feasible for sectors of the aluminum and recycling industries.

Do you have questions about the aluminum industry?
Governmental regulations?  Company operations?
Your questions may be used in a future news column.

Contact Richard McDonough at aluminachronicles@gmail.com.

 © 2019 Richard McDonough