TL;DR Always choose aluminum over glass when you have the option, it saves energy and has a higher recycle rate than glass.
Green Tip: Save the plastic straw by using a red vine to drink your canned beer!
To beer or not to beer has been a question for some, but not me. It’s always beer here. However, the choices can be daunting with the variety of micro brews that are clearly recession-proof.
Before you go down the usual checklist of IPA vs easy drinking, narrow it down by the vessel. Some folks think that beer is classier in a bottle. They may also think, since glass is a truly renewable material that they are doing the environment a favor by choosing to drink beer from a glass bottle.
Aluminum cans are actually the better choice for the environment. The main reason is the things that happen outside of your interaction with the beer. Let’s look at the process:
- Beer gets bottled in a factory
- Heavy bottles get transported through their supply chains. An empty glass receptacle weighs in at 6 ounces vs aluminum at less than 1 ounce. The further the brewery, the higher the fuel emissions, so drink local
- You pick it off the shelf and likely transport it back home – or maybe you just need that sweet sweet nectar in the alleyway and crush it before even getting home, thanks 2020
- I’ll assume since you’re reading this blog you then recycle the bottle, though depending on where you live that can be easy or a royal pain
- The heavy bottle is then transported to the recycling facility and sorted*
- Depending on said facility it may have another trip to make before it is then processed for reuse*
- This process is likely a melting frenzy that requires higher temperatures to melt glass than that of aluminum
- Once that recycled glass makes back into bottle form*, you repeat the process again
Take that process and reduce the fuel needed to transport it each time, reduce the heat needed to reuse it and on average you’ve achieved 96% energy savings vs the 26.5% with glass.
The coolest part about aluminum is that nearly 75% of all aluminum produced in the US is still in use today. Not only that, but the profit recyclers gain from the infinitely recyclable material more than pays for the process itself. It is one of the only truly closed loop materials we have. Unlike glass.
I am not saying that wine drinkers are polluters, but I am saying if you have the choice, choose aluminum. At times a nice glass of vino is just the ticket. One big caveat here is if you’re really serious, you’ll go the growler route and own all the materials yourself, there’s almost always a greener route to go.
It goes beyond booze, building and car parts contribute to this circularity at a much larger scale, think of the wiring and aluminum housing that goes into your electronics, the one in your hand or pocket now. That could have been an IPA can in a former life, or perhaps, if you’re responsible about your electronics disposal, your phone will be a Kolsch can in it’s next life.
The last thing that should be obvious but bears repeating: recycle. Not all facilities have the capabilities to process glass and too many recyclables get lost in the trash bin and wind up in landfills which is easy to avoid by taking personal responsibility for your refuse.
…if only
So cheers to you, cans may not make the satisfying clink but they will live to see another cycle.
* All these parts in the process assume the system is working perfectly, that’s not always the case and the facilities don’t always exist in your municipality. Furthermore, not all breweries are using recycled materials, they may be using virgin glass or plastic.
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