Crown Holdings Supports Efforts to Raise Aluminum Beverage Can Recycling

Dec 19, 2023 8:30 AM ET
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Ardagh Group and Crown Holdings, Inc. are continuing their efforts to raise aluminum beverage can recycling rates through Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) by financing a robot from artificial intelligence and robotics company EverestLabs.AI for a California recycling facility. Caglia Environmental, which sorts single-stream recyclables at its Fresno, CA, material recovery facility (MRF), will place the robot on its “last chance line” (the material destined for landfill) to capture more than 1 million additional used beverage cans (UBC) per year.

As Caglia’s plant maintenance manager Corey Stone put it, “We put the robot on the last chance line and have it focusing on aluminum beverage cans so that it’s picking ‘gold’ out of the trash.” In exchange for the lease financing, Caglia is providing a 50-percent revenue share with CMI. This robot lease provides a no-risk, no-cost way for a MRF to get additional can capture equipment.

CMI research has concluded that without the vital revenue from UBCs, most MRFs would not be able to operate without a change to their business model. This lease program is the latest in CMI’s comprehensive approach to spur the installation of additional can capture equipment in MRFs. It started with foundational research in 2020, a grant program with The Recycling Partnership in 2021, tools for MRF operators in 2022, and additional grants and this lease program in 2023. Visit https://www.cancentral.com/cansdriverecycling to learn more information.

About Crown Holdings, Inc.
Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com.