Aluminium recycling: What happens to the can after it goes through the reverse vending machine

For a beverage can, aluminium recycling usually begins at a reverse vending machine. In 2019, 99.3 per cent of aluminium beverage cans in Germany, by weight, were sent for recycling. Here you can read, step by step, what happens after they are returned, how much energy recycling saves compared to producing new aluminium – and where the limits lie.

Key figures

The recycling rate is taken from a study by the Society for Packaging Market Research (GVM), which was commissioned by companies in the sector. It measures how much is sent for recycling – not how much aluminium is actually recovered in the end.

Step 1: Returning items to the bottle return machine

Disposable beverage containers with a deposit cost at least 25 cents, which you get back when you return them. Retailers must accept returns of disposable containers made from the same materials as those they sell.

Inside the machine, up to six cameras check the Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG) deposit logo and the barcode in a fraction of a second. A database check identifies the type of packaging, and behind the insertion chute, bottles and cans are sorted into separate containers. According to DPG, more than 40,000 such machines are in operation. At the same time as the electronic record is created, the packaging is physically destroyed and sent for recycling.

Before the deposit scheme was introduced, the situation was quite different: in 1995, the return rate for beverage cans was estimated at 25 per cent. With the introduction of the compulsory deposit scheme in 2003, the collection rate rose significantly and the material flows became cleaner.

It’s a huge system: around 20 billion items of packaging a year and more than 1,000 participating companies. The article ‘How the deposit scheme works’ explains exactly how the deposit scheme works.

Step 2: Sort, compress, remove

Once they have been sorted, the bottles and cans are sorted, compressed into large bales and taken to the recycling plant. Not every can follows this route – here is how aluminium beverage cans were distributed in 2019:

For cans in general waste, the GVM estimates a recovery rate of 63 per cent of the aluminium from waste incineration and mechanical-biological treatment plants. Among the litter carelessly discarded in public spaces, cans play a negligible role following the return of deposit-bearing items: according to the GVM, they account for just 0.03 per cent of the tonnage.

Step 3: Stripping, melting down, cleaning

At the recycling plant, used beverage cans are cleaned, stripped of their coating and shredded into fine shavings. These are melted down at around 700 degrees Celsius to produce liquid primary aluminium. Pure aluminium has a melting point of 660 degrees Celsius.

During melting, care must be taken to prevent the surface from oxidising – this is usually achieved by covering the melt with salts. Impurities such as paint residues can be removed by means such as settling, filtering and gas flushing; any material that rises to the surface is skimmed off as ‘scum’ and reprocessed. To ensure the correct alloy composition, alloying elements and primary aluminium can be added.

Step 4: Ingots, sheet metal, new can

The aluminium is rolled back into thin sheet metal. According to DPG, one ingot of used beverage cans yields around 8,000 metres of aluminium sheet – enough for an estimated 700,000 new cans. One of the large plants is located in Nachterstedt: it opened in 2014, can process 400,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap annually and has its own production line for beverage cans.

The aluminium strip is then turned back into a can: discs are cut out, drawn into a bowl shape, stretched into a thin-walled can in the drawing machine, the base is formed, trimmed and washed. The can is then painted and printed on the outside, painted on the inside and, once filled, sealed with the lid, which is crimped shut.

Our 0.33-litre cans are made of aluminium. You can find out why we’ve opted for cans in the first place, and what the arguments against them are, on the ‘Why Cans?’ page.

How much energy does aluminium recycling save?

New aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite: in the Bayer process, this is converted into aluminium oxide, which is then reduced to aluminium in a molten-salt electrolysis process known as the Hall-Héroult process. This electrolysis is energy-intensive and, above all, requires a great deal of electricity.

Recycling requires significantly less: according to the Federal Environment Agency, state-of-the-art technology achieves energy savings of around 95 per cent. The International Aluminium Institute, an industry association, estimates the global primary energy requirement for 2019 at 186 gigajoules per tonne of primary aluminium and 8.3 gigajoules per tonne of recycled aluminium – a saving of 95.5 per cent. For Europe, it cites a lower figure of 140 gigajoules per tonne of primary aluminium for 2015.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, 541,000 tonnes of aluminium were produced from ore and 620,000 tonnes from secondary materials in Germany in 2015. There is also a difference in the amount of waste produced: for every tonne of aluminium produced from ore, around two tonnes of waste are generated – mainly red mud, which is sent to landfill – whereas recycling produces around 100 kilograms, mainly salt slag, which can be processed.

The reason: scrap aluminium is melted down at around 660 degrees Celsius, whilst primary aluminium is produced using the Hall-Héroult process at around 950 degrees Celsius, followed by electrolysis.

The Limits: Alloys, Downcycling and the Reusability Question

The claim that aluminium can be recycled repeatedly without any loss of quality is only true under certain conditions. If aluminium alloys are collected by type, they can be recycled without any loss of quality. If they are mixed together, this results in downcycling, because alloying elements such as magnesium cannot be removed during remelting.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, scrap aluminium is therefore predominantly processed into casting alloys; for high-quality wrought alloys, up to 50 per cent primary aluminium is currently added to the melt. The same applies to beverage cans: a high proportion of secondary aluminium is only possible if sufficient secondary aluminium is available for the required alloys. Recycling also produces salt slag, the treatment of which constitutes a separate branch of waste management.

What’s more, recycling does not automatically make a single-use can the best choice. In its environmental advice, the Federal Environment Agency recommends using reusable bottles from the local area and avoiding single-use bottles and cans. The article ‘EU Packaging Regulation’ explains the obligations set out in the EU Packaging Regulation.

What you can do

• Return cans with the deposit logo: You’ll get your deposit back – at least 25 cents – and the can will be sorted by material in the machine.
• Return them to the shop where the cans were sold: Retailers are only obliged to take back the types of material that they themselves stock.
• Do not put in general waste: according to the GVM, only a portion of the aluminium is recovered from waste-to-energy and mechanical-biological treatment plants.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. GVM Society for Packaging Market Research (on behalf of DAVR GmbH, Forum Getränkedose GbR, ThyssenKrupp Rasselstein GmbH): Recycling of Beverage Cans – Final Report, April 2021, reference year 2019. gvmonline.de
2. Federal Environment Agency (TEXTE 124/2024): Life-cycle assessment of potential for optimisation in beverage packaging – Final report, 2024. umweltbundesamt.de
3. Federal Environment Agency: Aluminium – Factsheet (Project ‘Mapping of the Anthropogenic Reservoir III’), as at 15 May 2019. umweltbundesamt.de
4. International Aluminium Institute (trade association): Aluminium recycling saves 95 per cent of the energy required for primary aluminium production, accessed 16 September 2026. international-aluminium.org
5. Wikipedia: Aluminium recycling, as at 7 January 2025. de.wikipedia.org
6. Wikipedia: Beverage can, as at 10 August 26. de.wikipedia.org
7. German Aluminium Industry Association (GDA), ‘Everything about Aluminium’ portal: Recycling, accessed 16 September 2026. allesueberalu.de
8. Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG): Technical High-Performers, 9 May 24. dpg-pfandsystem.de
9. Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG): Turning old into new – How used single-use beverage packaging is turned into high-quality new products, 11 September 2022. dpg-pfandsystem.de
10. Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG): The DPG deposit process, accessed 16 September 2026. dpg-pfandsystem.de
11. Deutsche Pfandsystem GmbH (DPG): FAQ – Consumer enquiries / environment, accessed 16 September 2026. dpg-pfandsystem.de
12. Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 207: Packaging Law Implementation Act (VerpackDG), Sections 46, 47; entered into force on 12 August 2026, published on 17 July 2026. recht.bund.de
13. Federal Association of the Food Industry (BVE): 20 years of the one-way deposit scheme: How Germany established the EU’s largest deposit scheme, 7 August 2026. ernaehrungsindustrie.de
14. Federal Environment Agency: Reusable bottles are more environmentally friendly than single-use ones, as at 16 March 2026. umweltbundesamt.de
15. ACQUA REAPER: Can specification 0.33 l Sleek (aluminium), 01/26.