Metal is the quiet success story of household recycling. Cans, tins, foil, lids, the system handles them all efficiently, the energy savings are enormous, and the markets are stable. A recycled aluminium can returns to a shelf in roughly six weeks. A recycled steel tin reappears, often as a new tin, within a few months. The infrastructure has been in place for decades and works at scale almost everywhere in the UK.
What most people don’t know is that aluminium and steel are recycled separately, end up in different products, and require different handling at the sorting facility. From a household perspective, the rules are nearly identical, both go in the recycling, but it’s useful to know which is which, because there are a few specific cases where it matters.
The magnet test
The simplest way to tell aluminium from steel is to hold a magnet next to the item. Steel is magnetic. Aluminium is not. Stick a fridge magnet on a fizzy drink can: nothing. On a baked beans tin: it grips. That’s the entire test, and it works for nearly every household metal item.
This isn’t something you need to do at home, the sorting facility uses an eddy-current separator and a magnetic drum to split the two streams automatically. But it’s a useful party trick and explains why facilities don’t mind you putting both in the same bin. the EPA’s recycling FAQ
What’s aluminium
- Fizzy drink cans
- Beer cans
- Energy drink cans
- Aluminium foil and trays
- Pet food trays (most)
- Yogurt pot lids (the foil sealed kind)
- Some cosmetic tubes
Aluminium is lighter than steel, doesn’t rust, and conducts electricity well. It’s also energy-intensive to produce from raw ore, which is why recycling it saves so much. Making a new can from recycled aluminium uses around 5 percent of the energy needed to make one from bauxite. It’s the single most efficient recycling category in the household stream.
What’s steel
- Food tins (beans, soup, tomatoes)
- Pet food tins
- Aerosol cans (deodorant, hairspray, polish)
- Sweet and biscuit tins
- Empty paint tins
- Jar lids (most)
- Tinned drink cans (rare, mostly old stock)
Steel is heavier, often coated with tin or chrome to prevent rust (hence the old name “tin can”), and used for items that need strength or heat resistance. Recycling steel saves around 75 percent of the energy of virgin production, less dramatic than aluminium, but still substantial.
Why facilities sort them separately
Aluminium and steel can’t be melted together, they’d produce a useless alloy. So after collection, they’re separated. A powerful magnet pulls steel out as the conveyor moves. Aluminium passes through and is captured later by an eddy-current separator, which creates a magnetic field that repels conductive non-magnetic metals.
This separation is so reliable that mixing the two in your bin doesn’t matter at all. You don’t need to sort. The facility does it better than you could.
Aluminium foil, the misunderstood one
Foil is recyclable, but it’s often refused at the kerb because of confusion or contamination. The rules:
- Clean aluminium foil, recyclable. Scrunch into a tight ball at least the size of a tennis ball so it doesn’t blow through sorting
- Greasy foil from a roast, depends on council; some accept lightly soiled, others don’t
- Cigarette foil and chocolate wrappers, usually not, because they’re often a thin laminate of foil over plastic or paper
- Crisp packets, not foil, despite appearances; they’re metallised plastic film, soft-plastic stream
The “scrunch test” works here too. If a wrapper scrunches and stays scrunched, it’s likely real foil. If it springs back, it’s metallised plastic and belongs in the soft-plastics tote.
Aerosol cans
Empty aerosols, deodorant, hairspray, polish, are recyclable as steel. The key word is empty. A partly-full can is technically pressurised and a hazard. Sorting facilities can’t process them safely. If your can still has product in it, finish using it (carefully) or take it to the household waste centre as hazardous.
Once empty, remove the plastic cap (general waste, usually too small for sorting) and pop the can in your metal recycling stream. Don’t pierce or crush, leave it intact so the facility can confirm it’s empty.
Paint tins and other oddities
| Item | Empty? | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Empty paint tin | Yes | Metal recycling (with lid off) |
| Paint tin with residue | No | HWRC hazardous waste |
| Sweet tin (Christmas biscuits) | Yes | Metal recycling |
| Coffee tin (sealed) | Empty | Metal recycling, lid in too |
| Cake tin in good condition | n/a | Charity shop, not recycling |
| Rusty old garden tool | n/a | HWRC scrap metal |
A reader’s aluminium experiment
Geoff in Bath wrote that he’d started saving every aluminium drink can his household used for a year, just to see. By December he had 540 cans. He took them to a scrap merchant and was paid around forty pounds. The merchant told him his hoard would be back on shelves as new cans by spring. “It made the recycling feel real,” he wrote. “Not vague. Forty quid in cash and a clean shed.”
Scrap merchants will pay for aluminium and steel because the metals retain value through the recycling process. This is one reason metal recycling is the most economically resilient stream, even when plastic markets collapse, metal stays viable.
Why the energy story matters
If you’re going to focus your recycling effort on one stream, metal is the highest-impact choice. Aluminium especially. A single recycled can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours, the cliche goes, and the cliche is roughly correct. Compared with the small savings from many other materials, metal recycling delivers most of the benefit promised by the system.
This isn’t an argument to ignore other streams. It’s a reminder that, when you put a fizzy drink can in the right bin, you’re participating in genuinely efficient material recovery. The system works. Your job is to put the can in.
The quiet routine
After dinner, the empty tin gets rinsed and slid into the recycling. The drink can joins it from the living room. The foil that wrapped tomorrow’s sandwiches gets balled up at the end of the week and added to the pile. There’s nothing complicated about it. The complication, if it exists, is in the few edge cases, aerosols, paint tins, soiled foil, and even those are manageable once you know the rule.
Metal is the recycling category you can almost forget about, in the best sense. It just works.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I tell aluminium from steel?
Try a magnet. Steel sticks, aluminium doesn't. You don't need to sort them — the facility separates them automatically — but it's a useful test if you're curious.
Can I recycle aluminium foil?
Yes, as long as it's clean and balled up to at least a tennis-ball size. Loose strips are too small for sorting machines. Greasy foil depends on your council's policy.
Are aerosol cans recyclable?
Yes, when empty. Don't crush or pierce them. Remove the plastic cap, which is too small for sorting, and put the can in the metal recycling.
What about paint tins?
Empty paint tins go in metal recycling. Tins with leftover paint count as hazardous waste and need to go to the household waste centre.
Does foil from a roast count as clean enough?
It depends on your council. Lightly soiled foil is often accepted; heavily greasy foil sometimes not. If unsure, wipe with a paper towel and put the foil in.
Why is aluminium recycling more efficient than steel?
Producing aluminium from raw ore takes huge amounts of electricity. Recycled aluminium needs only about 5 percent of that energy. Steel saves about 75 percent, still significant but less dramatic.
