CONVERTING FROM STEEL TO ALUMINIUM BEVERAGE CANS BEARS FRUIT FOR SA’S METALS PACKAGING AND RECYCLING INDUSTRIES
SINCE 2013, more than $94-million (ZAR1.258 billion) in capital investments have been made by industry heavyweights such as ABInbev, Coca-Cola Southern Africa, Nampak Bevcan and Hulamin to convert the beverage can industry from steel to aluminium.
Not only did this step bring the region in line with other major markets such as the United States – which changed to aluminium cans in the 1970s and 1980s – but it also had a major, positive impact on the industry’s recycling statistics.
According to MetPac-SA, the industry body representing the interests of the local metal packaging industry, the recycling rate for used beverage cans in South Africa grew significantly from only 18 % in 1993 to its present rate of around 72%.
The organisation’s CEO, Delanie Bezuidenhout, believes that South Africa’s conversion to aluminium played an important role in increasing recycling volumes because aluminium beverage cans are infinitely recyclable without loss of strength or quality, and offers collectors an attractive rate.
Read the full press release posted on Industrysourcing
http://www.industrysourcing.com/article/gain-aluminium-beverage-packaging