Business on aluminum cans. Recycling process of aluminum cans. General view of the problem

21.04.2020

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How to open a recycling center for aluminum cans

Today, more and more soft drinks and beer are sold in aluminum cans and plastic bottles. There are quite objective reasons for this: aluminum cans are cheaper, weigh much less than a classic glass bottle, and you can just return them and get money.

The business idea is very simple - organizing a collection point for aluminum cans from beer and drinks. The thing is that large non-ferrous metal processing enterprises are not at all interested in exchanging for acceptance of 3-5 kg. recyclables from private deliverers, in addition, they are usually located somewhere in the suburbs or outside the city.

The next step is renting a room. A heated basement, preferably located in a passageway, is quite suitable. You will need a room in any case, even if you decide organize a street collection point for aluminum cans- you will still need a place where you will sort and temporarily store the aluminum cans you have accepted. The room should be warm and have lighting. For work, you will need a scale designed to weigh at least 50 kg. It is also worth stocking up on bags for aluminum cans handed over to the collection point. It will be necessary to find and build relationships with large non-ferrous metal collection points. This is where you will hand over aluminum cans from your collection point.

No special advertising is required for your aluminum can collection point, rumors about such sources of livelihood among your customers spread instantly. Who is your contingent? Homeless people, drinking citizens and just ordinary old pensioners. You can stick the simplest flyers-ads somewhere near the garbage containers, the haunted places where the bulk of your contingent gathers. However, among your clients there will be quite sane people, for example, elderly people with a modest pension. Normal sign with working hours collection point for aluminum cans and acceptance prices will allow this category to find its way to your collection point.

To organize a collection point for cans, you will also need some small starting amount for the purchase and settlement with the deliverers. On average, 1 can is bought for 20 kopecks. (the weight of a standard 0.5 l jar is 15 g, jars with a volume of 0.33 - 13 g), on average there are about 70 cans per 1 kg, but keep in mind that there will be not 70 thousand of them in a ton, but somewhere about 64 thousand, the rest of the weight will eat the inevitable garbage in the form of leftover beer, bulls, labels, etc. A standard 50 kg sugar bag holds 4 kg of crumpled cans.

And one more trick: bags with cans must be checked with a magnet, remember - aluminum is not magnetized. For what? It's simple - our people are cunning, they may well put stuffing from heavier, but less expensive iron inside the bag. Anyway, when you recycle cans, you will definitely be checked with a magnet, iron will be found - either the whole batch is wrapped, or they will accept it at the price of ferrous metal, and this is completely different money.

Let's calculate the costs:
basement rent - 3000 rubles per month,
salary of one receiver - 8000 rubles per month,
electronic scales - 3000 rubles,
plus the rental of a car to deliver the raw materials you have accepted to the processing point.

Payback. In a good location during the summer cans collection point collects up to 3 tons of aluminum cans. In many cities there are specialized plants for processing aluminum scrap, they buy 1 ton of cans at an average of 30,000 rubles. If there is no such enterprise in your locality, it does not matter. There are large non-ferrous metal collection points everywhere that will buy aluminum cans from you in bulk.

Aluminum cans appeared on the shelves about fifty years ago.

Since then they have become one of the the most popular tare for storage:

lemonades;
sodas;
low alcohol drinks.

There is not a single grocery store that would not offer its customers a can of cold drink on a hot summer day.

The popularity of aluminum in modern marketing is quite clear. This metal has good stability to organic acids contained in carbonated drinks and fermentation products. Add to this the light weight, and you have the perfect metal for making cans for soft drinks.

When aluminum cans came into use, a serious problem arose street clogging and even whole cities. After all, many people do not think about the surrounding cleanliness at all and throw the cans right on the ground. However, to date, this issue has been completely resolved. Banks can be handed over to collection points and, what is most remarkable, receive for this money.

Read about it below:

how to choose the right banks for sending for processing;
how much are aluminum cans accepted;
how to earn more.

Aluminum cans compare favorably with other types of containers in the following ways: benefits:

save the initial qualities of the drink are better than plastic containers;
fully protect the contents from the influence of the environment, and the metal itself does not have a negative effect on it;
aluminum cans are beneficial to manufacturers due to easy transportation(they are light enough and do not fight);
banks are especially good for buyers because cool quickly and are able to "hold" the cold for a long time;
it is a reusable product and it may be subject to further recycling.

Such enterprises are resellers and offer quite favorable prices when selling non-ferrous metal scrap at retail, that is, by kilograms. The cost per kilogram in some points may increase due to the number of cans handed over. Before delivery, inquire about the availability of the reception point for the implementation of this activity.
Many of the organizations offer not only the removal of scrap, but also the following services:
cleaning;
sorting;
metal pressing.

True, the price of this varies.
If it is possible to sell banks in bulk from several thousand kg, it is better to cooperate directly with metal base or processing plant.

They can also organize self-delivery of the product, and the price will please.
The only difference will be that the banks will have to on one's own:
cleanse;
sort.

Recently, in Russia, the third option for the "realization" of aluminum cans has become more and more famous.
This is a special machine for receiving aluminum cans ( vending machine), which carries out the reception by the piece. In big cities, such miracle machines are usually found in shopping centers. The average cost of receiving one aluminum can in such a machine is about ten kopecks apiece, and any enthusiast of any age can return it.
Although this system just starting to develop in our country, it is safe to say that it is the future of scrap metal collection.
Admission conditions
A huge plus for the delivery of aluminum cans is that the seller receives the money immediately after the delivery of the container. However, it is worth noting that in each type of enterprises and private companies conditions recycling may vary.
Not all collection points accept aluminum cans by the piece.
The minimum weight is usually one kilogram, and in large enterprises and processing plants - one ton.
If you want to hand over banks piece by piece, then it is better to contact resellers.
They can find through:
janitors;
sellers in the store.

But their prices are right too. You can’t hope to rent a bank for a lot.
It is more profitable to hand over one aluminum can to a special machine for receiving them, but keep in mind that they are still only in large cities.

They only accept banks that meet the following criteria:
clean;
whole;
with intact barcode.

It is easier and more profitable to donate kilograms.
Private reception points take banks of any:
type;
forms;
quality;
destination.

Even crumpled dirty beer cans stained with earth.

Such companies carry out:
cleaning;
sorting;
remelting

If you would like to receive more money per kilogram, it is better to hand over banks:
clean;
sorted.

Each organization determines the sorting conditions itself.
Most often, they ask distribute container according to:
volume;
appointment.

Less often - by chemical composition.
Also, if possible, they are asked to place cans in pressed bales for optimal loading into vehicles ( upon order pickup).
As for processing plants, they usually buy already pressed an aluminum can from several hundred kilograms.
Reception is carried out in accordance with regulatory documents of a regional scale, and the seller must have an identity document with him upon delivery.
Scrap is accepted only:
in pure;
sorted by varieties and groups.

To the composition of non-ferrous metal scrap on large enterprises there are certain important requirements:
the metallurgical yield must be at least 90%;
paper, iron and dirt are not allowed;
it is required that the mass of the metal be 95% aluminum, other metals are allowed, but they must be the smallest fraction;
radiation pollution is unacceptable.

Prices for aluminum cans at collection points
To form average prices, consider the cost of receiving aluminum cans at three types of enterprises:
those that accept banks with a total weight of several tens and hundreds of kilograms;
enterprises buying scrap from a kilogram;
places where you can rent cans by the piece.

From 10-100 kg
At this point, we took four large enterprises that either themselves are engaged in the processing of scrap metal, or directly cooperate with such plants.
Mostorma
This enterprise is engaged in the reception of raw materials of various types. One of them is aluminum cans. The company's website states that they accept weight not less than 0.5 tons. The minimum price is 45 rub./kg.
The price increase depends on three parameters:
weight characteristics(the more you rent, the more the cost of raw materials per kg becomes);
raw material purity(lack of dirt and impurities);
possibility self delivery goods.

The company also notes that the reception of cans is possible only compressed.
SecondResource
One of the largest enterprises of the cultural capital of Russia offers the purchase of aluminum cans from 50 kg by price from 65 to 75 rubles per kg when using your own transport.
The price varies depending on the purity of the offered raw materials.
Its cost will be lowered by 5% if the scrap contains:
dirt;
impurities.

If the seller cannot deliver the goods on one's own, the price of aluminum cans will vary from 40 to 68 rubles per kilogram.
MDM VtorMetal
Moscow enterprise accepting aluminum cans at a price 64 rubles/kg.
For this price, you can only sell scrap metal that meets the following criteria:
clean;
compressed;
free of foreign metals and dirt.

Also company offers a surcharge 10% when accepting payment by bank transfer.

Ecopolis
Here, for a kilogram of scrap aluminum cans, you can get from 20 rubles. The company emphasizes that the price will rise depending on the amount of scrap delivered. However, the company's website does not provide accurate information about the price increase.
From kilogram
Here are the five most popular private reception points of the three largest cities in Russia.
MetalExpert24
The Moscow company offers the purchase of aluminum cans at a price 68 rubles/kg. Terms of price increase or decrease not specified, but proposed calculation cost goods according to the photo.
Metal+
Moscow-based Metal+ lists two prices per kilogram for aluminum cans. 45 rubles per kilogram will be received by those who rent cans at retail, that is from 1 to 99 kg. And those who decide to sell over 0.1 tons receive at a time 50 rubles for one kilogram. At the same time, in the cost export is included raw materials enterprise.
Mosvtormetall
Here the price is 64 rubles/kg, but does not include pickup. Also, the company's website notifies that the price of large quantities of goods may increase markedly.
OOO Resurs
This company has a price from 40 rubles per kg of aluminum cans. The cost can rise to 42 rubles for cashless payments and up to 45 rubles for the delivery of scrap from one ton.
Riten Metal
The Novosibirsk enterprise "Riten Metal" is ready to buy scrap aluminum cans for 59 rub/kg. Here, accepting payment by card is also beneficial: the cost will increase to 60 rubles per kg.
The company only accepts the following banks:
clean;
sorted.

The price may increase depending on the weight of the item.

By the piece
Neither large enterprises nor small collection points will accept aluminum cans weighing up to one kilogram.
Piece by piece, banks can only be handed over to resellers or found in your city vending machine- machine for receiving aluminum cans.

At piece by piece acceptance of aluminum cans, the price per piece varies, but on average they are from 30 to 50 kopecks.
The average price of aluminum can scrap is presented in the table:
How to get a higher price?
To get as much profit as possible from the delivery of aluminum cans, you need to prepare a favorable ecological environment on our planet.
In addition, for the delivery of this type of scrap, no financial costs are needed. You do not need to buy additionally to search and various metal. After all, there are banks in almost every yard and they will even be grateful to you if you want to collect them.
How aluminum cans are accepted by a special machine in Sweden, see this video:
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Recycling materials is not only good for the environment, but it can also be great for your wallet, making you some extra cash. The easiest way to recycle is aluminum cans and plastic bottles: they can be taken to recycling centers, which usually pay by weight or quantity. Keep reading this article to learn how to recycle aluminum cans and plastic bottles to make money.

Steps

Getting ready for recycling

Find out the location of the nearest storage and recycling center. Collection centers that can pay you for aluminum cans by weight are usually located on the first floors of scrap metal and waste paper recycling firms. (Those located in paper recycling centers can also refund your used paper.) Centers that can refund you for aluminum and plastic containers, based on their number, can be found in supermarkets and large beverage stores - either in the store or near it.
Most centers have limits on how many containers a person can donate per day. These limits vary from 48 to 500 pieces, in general, it will be 144-150 pieces.

Find out what exactly you can donate to such centers. Most of these centers accept bottles of carbonated drinks (beer and soft drinks), but some may also accept containers of non-carbonated drinks such as wine, liquor or bottled water. In addition, most stores will refund you for bottles of the brand names they sell in their stores.
Recently, some collection and recycling centers require that certain beverage containers have a sign indicating the company that supplies this drink to stores.

Jars and bottles must be clean, empty, relatively undamaged, and must be level. It is possible to straighten an aluminum can by inserting a wooden or metal rod inside and leveling the walls from the inside. (However, do not press hard, so as not to break the walls of the jar). Plastic bottles can be flattened by inhaling air into them.

Look for a label that indicates that the jar or bottle is returnable. On aluminum cans, you can find such markings on the top or bottom. If we talk about bottles, then they have markings on the neck or on the sides, and sometimes on the lid itself.
Due to the fact that cans and bottles are marked in this way directly at the factory, the marking indicates where such containers can be returned. A jar or bottle does not have to be donated at a specific location, it is quite possible to have a container that you cannot rent at your place of residence.

Remember that if a can or bottle is not labelled, you can still recycle it, such as taking it to a recycling center or taking advantage of your city's container recycling program.

Selling bottles and cans

Gather the right amount of jars and bottles. Turning in a kilo of aluminum cans or 6-12 soda bottles at a time won't make you much money and will likely spend more on gas than you get. Try to collect as many cans as your collection center accepts and/or a few full bags of aluminum cans; you can also visit more than one center to turn everything in if necessary.
By collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles, you can store them in your garage or basement during the winter, or in your yard when the weather is nice. But don't forget that the residual sugar in the soda bottles will attract bees, ants and wasps.

Separate containers that can be recycled from those that cannot. Labeled aluminum cans and plastic bottles can be taken to collection centers, unlabeled aluminum cans go to recycling centers, and unlabeled plastic bottles go to a recycling bin.
Non-changeable aluminum cans can be crumpled to take up less space and give away more and in fewer bags than if you hadn't crumpled them. Crumpled cans, however, will not be accepted if you want to turn them in for money.

Separate the returnable cans from the bottles. Most drop-off centers require bottles to be separated from cans. Bottles can be placed in cartons or plastic milk crates, while aluminum cans should be placed on a flat cardboard surface, in the shallow boxes in which these cans are shipped to stores. Such small boxes usually hold 24 cans, which will help you conveniently count the number of cans and have an idea of \u200b\u200bhow much money you can get for them.
Most drop-off centers have a number of these small boxes that you can place the cans in before returning. You can also take the boxes ahead of time to place the jars in at home.

Organize jars and bottles by brand. Although not required, you can store all branded containers to save time at the drop center. (It also makes it easier for the centers to return your boxes back to you if you pick them up). Grocers have different brands of beverages from different distributors and when you return an empty container to the stores, these stores return it directly to the distributors who sold the beverages to those stores, they require the container to be sorted by product line before shipping. their distributor. Most distributors work with 3 big sweet water companies: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper/7-Up. Below is a list of products that each company produces:
Coca-Cola: Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Sprite, Fresca, Mr. Pibb, Barq's, Fanta, Tab

PepsiCo: Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Free, Pepsi Max, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist

Dr. Pepper/7-Up: Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Diet 7-Up, Cherry 7-Up, A&W Root Beer, Crush, Diet Rite. Squirt

Containers from drinks purchased from a specialized store can only be returned at the drop-off center of this store. Keep these containers separate from national brand containers, which you can return at other retailer's drop-off centers.

It's no secret that the recycling of human waste is practically a gold mine, and it is rather problematic to objectively assess the volume of this market, in particular in our country. But, in order to understand at least in general terms the existing volumes, it is enough to consider a simple example. Have you ever thrown another can of soft drink into a bucket and thought about how many people do it at the same time as you around the globe? Simply put, there are millions of them, which is why aluminum can recycling is not only a profitable business, but also makes a significant contribution to environmental protection and the rational use of natural resources.

General view of the problem.

According to statistics, the capacity of the Russian market of aluminum cans is estimated at approximately 2-3 billion. Considering the weight of a can of even a small volume, which is about 15 grams, we get the amount of aluminum spent, which is approximately 30-40 thousand tons of pure metal. And if we take into account the energy resources necessary for the production of metal from primary raw materials, the prospects for the development of the processing industry become obvious.

This option will also have a positive impact on the environment. As an example of the effective application of recycling technologies, the North American company Novelis can be cited, which already in 2009 was able to recycle more than 39 billion aluminum cans, which made it possible to obtain more than 530 thousand tons of pure metal during remelting.

Processing technology for aluminum cans.

The current level of development of recycling of secondary raw materials allows the use of several methods for obtaining pure aluminum from cans. The most common are the following:

The simplest, and therefore most commonly used, is pressing. The source material is subjected to primary sorting and cleaning from household waste. After that, the raw material is crushed with simultaneous cleaning from various iron components using an electromagnet. The resulting substance is subjected to pressing, forming briquettes of a certain weight, and sent for remelting to a metallurgical plant. The disadvantages of this method include the high content of various impurities due to imperfect cleaning methods.

Another, more advanced method, providing better cleaning, is based on similar principles. Its difference lies in the use of multi-stage grinding and removal of impurities. As a result of processing, aluminum powder, or material in the form of small metal flakes, is obtained. Despite the higher quality processing, it has a significant disadvantage. For the organization of such chains of this type, the presence of extensive production areas is required. Also, the use of a multi-stage cycle significantly increases the cost of the product.

The recycling of aluminum cans based on pyrolysis is the most efficient technique. The additional costs required for the associated equipment are offset by the cost of the resulting material.

The initial processing steps are similar to existing steps for other methods. Secondary raw materials are washed, sorted, and various impurities are removed. Small pieces of aluminum obtained during grinding are subjected to pyrolysis in special installations.

The essence of this process is to heat the elements of crushed cans to a temperature that is 100 degrees or more higher than the melting point of aluminum, up to approximately 750 degrees. During the heating process, all organic and some inorganic impurities are decomposed, and the resulting liquid aluminum is poured into pre-prepared forms. The product obtained in this way is distinguished by the minimum presence of various inclusions, and can be processed at metallurgical plants without additional purification, which makes it a highly competitive material.

Considering the economic feasibility of processing such raw materials, we can conclude that the organization of enterprises of this type is quite a profitable undertaking. The only problematic issue, due to the peculiarities of the mentality of the majority of the inhabitants of our country, is the issue of garbage sorting by each person. In most countries, this method of waste collection has already proven effective, and it is considered unacceptable for a resident, for example, in Japan, to throw an aluminum can into a food waste container. The introduction, and most importantly, the adoption by the population of such a separate method of collecting waste, will significantly increase the economic efficiency of processing any secondary raw materials.

Recently, the volume of supplies of imported soft drinks and beer in metal cans with a capacity of 0.33, 0.5 and 1.0 liters has increased dramatically. Domestic enterprises - producers of beer and soft drinks also began to use this type of packaging for their products. All this has led to the fact that the share of metal, the collection of which is not sufficiently organized, has sharply increased in the composition of urban waste.

Empty cans are scattered throughout the city, due to this, the amount of garbage is increasing and the problem of recycling cans is becoming more and more acute, especially in the summer months, which worsens not only the appearance, but also the ecological state of the city.
According to expert estimates, Moscow consumes an average of about 800,000 cans per day - about 300 million cans per year. Of these, approximately 210 million aluminum cans and 90 million tin cans are taken to landfills.

Aluminum cans are melted down according to traditional technology in electric furnaces. However, if aluminum is remelted in the form of cans, only about 20% of the metal is obtained at the output. When remelting compressed briquettes from solid cans, the yield of aluminum is only 40%, and the rest goes to waste. The best technological indicators are obtained by remelting cans in the form of briquettes, pressed from pre-crushed and sorted can material. In this case, the yield of aluminum reaches about 80%.
Therefore, mechanized areas for the processing of cans are equipped with small-sized crushers and presses, auxiliary and sorting equipment and are organized in crowded places (airports, train stations, stadiums, large hotels, restaurants, business centers, places of public recreation).
The productivity of one such section is at least 8 thousand cans per day. The products of these sections should be briquettes sorted according to the type of metal.
Cans are disposed of by grinding, separating and pressing into briquettes for subsequent use as secondary raw materials for metallurgical industries.
Chemical analysis of ingots obtained after remelting cans, which is given