What type of aluminium are coffee capsules and beverage cans made from?

Many of the items we use and recycle on a daily basis are actually made of an alloy. The alloy has a high-purity rate of aluminium but also contains a variety of other minerals like copper, zinc, manganese, silicon and/or magnesium.

Beverage Can Aluminium

The humble aluminium soda can is made from two different alloys. The base of the can needs to be pliable enough so it can be formed, but strong enough to be pressurized – so it's made mostly from aluminium and 20% manganese to provide additional strength. Its alloy number is commonly #3003 or #3004.

The top of the aluminium soda can is made from a different aluminium alloy (#5182) which is much stronger to safely hold the contents when sealed under pressure. This alloy is commonly described as a "marine grade" aluminium.

Coffee Capsule Aluminium

However, the aluminium coffee capsule is commonly made from the #1100 alloy, which is 99% pure aluminium making it very pliable to shape.

The great news is that all alloys in the 1000-series, 3000-series and 5000-series are compatible with the recycling systems currently in Australia and the majority of first-world countries that have advanced towards using material recycling facilities (MRFs) to sort their waste streams for greater sustainability. The modern MRFs use an amazing eddy current method to separate the recoverable aluminium items – it's quite mesmerizing to watch.

This means that regardless of the small number of local councils/municipalities that are unfamiliar with the aluminium recycling process and/or the capabilities of their MRF, you can be confident that your aluminium cans will be effectively recycled and remain in the circular economy.

The limitation of most MRFs is the sizes of what they can process. The majority of MRFs have a minimum collection size of approx. 2.5 inches x 2.5 inches. This means anything smaller than the size of a tennis ball will likely fall through the filters and end up in landfill. Therefore, when coffee capsules are loosely tossed in your recycling bin, they will inevitably end up in exactly the place you don't want – your local landfill!

Kerbside Recycling Is Possible

The benefit of the aluminium coffee capsule being made from the #1100 alloy, is that it's excellent for adding to the smelter pot (because it's 99% pure aluminium). This means it is acceptable to collect them inside the aluminium can, perfect for recycling via your home kerbside recycling bin – now that is convenient!!

So in summary, if you insert empty and cleaned aluminium coffee pods into your aluminium cans, the MRFs will sort correctly (using the eddy current), ready for sending to the smelter. This ensures 100% sustainability for aluminium coffee capsules.

Note: It's important to be a responsible consumer by not inserting anything else other than clean aluminium inside an aluminium can (eg. smoke butts, organic material, oil, etc.) for greater purity rates at the recycling centers and ultimately in the smelter. Do good, be good, feel good.