Tips on Recycling and Reusing Aluminum Foil

So you’ve just finished barbequing up some spare ribs, and you begin balling up the leftover aluminum foil to toss in the trash. You pause and glance to your right where you see your recycling container overflowing with aluminum cans, causing you to think, “This is also aluminum. Why can’t I recycle it?” The truth is, most of the time you can’t, and here’s why.

Aluminum foil is technically 100 percent recyclable, but the bottom line is that it is much dirtier than your average can. While most of the time you can recycle your leftover foil casserole dish or pie pan, the regular sheets of foil are often hard to clean. For this very reason, very few recycling centers will accept used foil. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to recycle. There are some centers that are willing to accept thoroughly cleaned foil, which will then enable them to process it without contaminating the aluminum recycling process.

If you find that your local center will not take aluminum foil, there are a few things you can do. You can simply reuse your aluminum foil. You can clean it with hot soapy water and save it for when you want to grill or cover something. You could also possibly reuse the cleaned foil for crafts with the kids. There are websites dedicated to coming up with practical reuses for aluminum foil. Search for “uses for aluminum foil,” and you will find quite a few websites dedicated to the cause.

If none of those options work for you, think about buying 100 percent recycled aluminum foil. This way, you can support a process that uses five percent less energy than the traditional aluminum foil manufacturing process. It might cost a little more, but you are helping the environment in another way.