Crush a Can Day

What the day is

Crush a Can Day is observed on September 27. The activity is exactly what the name says, and it is genuinely satisfying, but the day is most useful as a prompt to think about where the can goes afterward.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented, and no founder or sponsoring organization is reliably known.

Aluminum is the reason the day is worth keeping. It can be recycled indefinitely without losing quality, unlike most plastics, which degrade with each cycle. Recycling aluminum uses a small fraction of the energy needed to produce it from bauxite ore, on the order of ninety-five percent less, which makes a used can one of the most valuable things in a household recycling bin. Cans also move through the system remarkably fast: a recycled can is commonly back on a shelf as a new can within about two months.

There is a catch that the day's name works against. Many modern recycling facilities sort single-stream material using machines that separate items by shape, and a flattened can may be misread as paper or card and sent to the wrong line. Where a facility uses that kind of sorting, the advice is to leave cans uncrushed. Crushing still makes sense when you are storing cans for a deposit return, taking them to a scrap dealer, or sorting metal separately.

How to take part

• Check your local guidance before flattening a bin's worth. Programs differ, and the correct answer genuinely depends on the facility.
• Rinse the can. Residue contaminates other materials and can cause a load to be rejected.
• Crush with a foot on a hard floor rather than by hand. Cut edges from torn aluminum are sharp.
• Keep a separate bag for cans if your area pays a deposit. It is the simplest money in household recycling.
• If you want the satisfaction without the doubt, crush one and recycle the rest intact.

A wall-mounted crusher is worth it only if you go through cans in volume, which mostly means households that buy sparkling water or beer by the case.