Refundable Materials

Below you will find a list of the beverage containers that we accept at our depot and a little information about how these materials are recycled!

*the information below comes from albertadepot.ca. For more, please see Associated Links on the Home Page.

Aluminium

Aluminium cans are recycled into.... more aluminium cans! Once you recycle your cans, it takes a maximum of two months to turn them into new cans. That's pretty quick!

Polyethylene Terethphalate (PET) Clear Plastic Containers

Your clear plastic containers are converted into plastic pellets which are then used to create more food grade beverage containers! In some parts of the world, PET's can be turned into clothing!

Gable Top

These types of containers are made up of two different materials, plastic and paper. A hydro-pulping process separates these. The paper is then used to make items like toilet paper, paper, and cardboard. The plastic (about 20%) is used for making other plastics.

Tetra Brik

Tetra Brik containers are made of three different materials: plastic, paper, and aluminum. These also go through a hydro-pulping process to separate out the paper material. The paper is used in the making of new paper materials (toilet paper etc.) and the smaller amounts of aluminium and plastic is also reused.

Glass

Glass containers are crushed and turned into small glass beads. In Alberta, we heat and spin these into a fine floss that makes fiberglass insulation. In other parts of the world, the glass beads are used for street paint (more reflective) or for sandblasting material.

Plastics

These heavier grade plastics are also turned into pellets, and they are used in the production of non-food grade plastic products.

Bi-Metal

Bi-Metal beverage containers are smelted down for recycling into construction re-bar, car parts, and grinding rods for mining

Pouches

Boxes from Bag-In-A-Box style containers are fairly coarse, and can be recycled into tough paper objects like cardboard boxes. The plastic bladder insert is already a reused product, and so it cannot be recycled another time. Instead, it is turned into fuel through incineration.