In practice, all metal packaging is recyclable.
Metal packaging is divided into ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals.
Ferrous metals (e.g. steel)
- Sorting with a magnet
- Melting at 1500°C
Non-ferrous metals (e.g. aluminium)
- Sorting via eddy current
- Melting at 750°C
Adding scrap lowers the temperature in the recycling process.
Tip
Avoid the use of metal packaging made of different materials, the components of which cannot be separated manually because the non-targeted material is lost to recycling.
Example: a drum made from aluminised steel will end up in the ferrous metals recycling stream. The aluminium is not a pollutant in, for example, the production of steel, but it will no longer be recoverable and is therefore lost for recycling purposes.