Recycling cans is an everyday act for the environment

Finland has one of the world’s best systems for recycling beverage containers, and Finns are diligent bottle returners. Every year around 1.2 billion deposit cans are sold in Finland, of which 95% make their way back into circulation through reverse vending machines.That figure is genuinely good, and we can rightly be proud of our deposit return system. At this scale, though, it’s worth remembering that the “missing” 5% amounts to as many as 60 million cans. So every year, tens of millions of cans fail to find their way back to stores’ reverse vending machines. Together we can surely do better!Can aluminium is an excellent recycling materialAluminium cans are lightweight and unbreakable, and best of all, aluminium can be reused almost endlessly without any loss of quality.Manufacturing new cans from virgin material takes an enormous amount of energy and causes unnecessary carbon emissions. A can made from recycled material, by contrast, requires only about 5% of the energy of the original manufacturing process and produces 85% less carbon emissions.So every can, even the deposit-free ones, is important to recycle. This way we get a valuable raw material back into circulation and save natural resources. All can aluminium recycled through reverse vending machines is used directly to make new cans.A can’s journey through the reverse vending machine back into a canA can returned by a consumer at a store continues its journey to a processing facility, where cans are pressed into large bales. The bales are transported to an aluminium smelter, where they’re melted down and cast into aluminium ingots. The ingots are pressed into thin sheets, which are delivered to the can factory in large rolls weighing several tonnes. Finland has two can factories, in Hämeenlinna and Mäntsälä.Nokian Panimo’s cans come from Can Pack’s factory in Hämeenlinna. There, Keisari beer cans and Nokian Panimo’s other favourite drinks get their familiar printed designs. From the can factory, the cans are transported to Nokian Panimo to be filled. The filled cans are transported to restaurants and shops to be bought and enjoyed by consumers. The whole recycling process takes a few months.A new way to return deposit cans and bottlesAlongside the traditional bottle return, a new option has recently emerged. Cans and bottles can now be returned straight from your own doorstep using the Canit mobile app.Canit is an app developed by a Finnish startup that safely connects people returning bottles with people who collect them. So you don’t need to go any further than your own door to get rid of your empty bottles. After returning bottles through the app, you’ll receive a share of the deposit value credited to your Canit account. From there you can transfer the amount either to your own bank account or donate it to charity.Posting a listing in the app is free of charge. You don’t need to count individual bottles and cans or know the exact number. It’s enough to state the number of cans and bottles in terms of an ordinary grocery-store plastic bag. The app takes care of the rest.Returning bottles via the Canit app takes just a minuteHere’s how bottle return works in the Canit app:

1. Download Canit
2. State your location and how many bags of empty bottles or cans you have for sale (one bag being an ordinary plastic bag from the store)
3. Pre-registered users sign up to collect your bags of bottles. Choose which of them will come to collect the bags from you.
4. Wait at home for the bottles to be picked up.

Once the deal is confirmed, you’ll receive a share of the deposit value for the bottles sold, credited to your Canit account.Read more here about how bottle return works in the Canit app.You can also follow the Canit app on their Facebook and Instagram channels.Have a lovely spring, and remember to recycle! -Guest post: Jenni Lahtinen, Canit