Beverage Can

Each one of us can be defenders of the planet, just like former National Hockey League defenseman Andrew Ference, who highlights the power of recycling in our featured video, What’s One Can. After viewing the video, you CAN explore how recycling saves energy, investigate your impact on the environment, and examine the properties and structures of aluminum. Designed to reinforce the importance of recycling, empower students to make a positive difference, and introduce the unique properties of aluminum, Life of a Can offers standards-aligned digital learning tools for every classroom. In this student-centered, teacher-led lesson, students are challenged to examine how we recycle materials like aluminum, what we can do with recycled products, and why it’s so important to recycle.

In recent years, a groundswell of negative publicity and consumer backlash has emerged against disposable plastic products, particularly bottles. Images of bottles overflowing landfills and adversely impacting ecosystems have soured consumers and drawn the ire of environmental organizations and activists worldwide. As a result, many are calling for increased government and industry intervention to address the growing problem. According to the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, plastic drink bottles are the third most common type of waste item found on shorelines – behind cigarette butts and food wrappers. As the plastics and beverage industries work to address the issue by investing in new recycling technologies and waste management infrastructure, there is also an opportunity to reinforce the benefits of infinitely recyclable aluminum and to promote it as the model of sustainable packaging for bottled water and other beverages.