Here begins the story of a true national pride. Brazilians are the biggest in aluminum recycling. It’s funny to think how one of these cans leaves the market and goes back to the shelves completing a new life cycle.
Let’s learn more about this successful case right now. PRESENTS NATIONAL PRIDE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR -Ciro! How are you?
Tell us where we are. We are at NewAge, a beverage industry. -Here is the can packaging.
-Exactly. How many liters of beverage do you pack daily? About 250,000 liters.
-That’s how many cans? -About 500,000 cans. Half million cans daily.
15 million monthly. That’s a lot of aluminum, right? -Exactly.
-Can I go inside? Sure! But you’ll need this.
What? A headphone? To hear some music?
No. To avoid hearing. Because it’s too noisy in there.
And very hot too. Like Hell. Hi Ciro!
Can you hear me? I’m going inside to see the magic happening. QUALITY COORDINATOR -Junior!
-How are you? -Fine, thank God. Can you show us through the process?
-Let’s do it. -Let’s go then. First we unpack it.
Then it runs through the rinser, where it is washed. It goes back to the packing to be filled. Then sealed.
The lid is placed inside it. Then they are dried and coded. This equipment is a level detector.
They are finally packed here as they go through the palletization and to the final consumer. How do you feel by participating in the biggest aluminum recycling processes? I feel very important.
By recycling, we can stimulate people doing the same in their houses. CAN FACTORY Now we will see how they fabricate the cans. PRODUCTION MANAGER -Marcos Rosa, what is this?
These are the aluminum coils. How many cans can you make with one coil? About 1.
5 million. On the second stage, it is soaked in oil. To help the pressing process.
Then it is carried by a vacuum conveyor to the body makers. The press stretches it. -Like a soap bubble.
-Exactly. After the body maker, it is washed. The can is now ready to be printed.
We run 2,200 cans per minute. It’s impressive. In some stages, it’s so fast we can’t see the cans.
It amazes me every time. Cans running everywhere! When we open a can in a party, we don’t think about the process and the stage needed to fabricate it.
This is the palletization, the packing process. -It’s like a colorful crowd. -Yeah, it’s beautiful to watch.
Here are the storage and the dispatch. Once it is done, this is where we storage the cans. There’s enough room to store 100 million cans.
Look at this! How many? Say that again.
-Are you sure about this? -100 million cans! -That’s why recycling is so important.
-Absolutely. We avoid the mining process and the damage it produces. 80% of the production comes from recycling.
What if we had to extract it from the soil? Exactly. I saw those coils arriving and being convert into aluminum cans.
How did they got here? Where do they come from? How are they made?
Let’s find out now. We are in Pindamonhangaba, at Novelis’ Factory, where collected aluminum cans are turn back into coils. Let’s see this miracle taking place.
Gustavo! -Howdy? -How are you?
-Good? -Great. What happens in this area?
BUSINESS MANAGER -Every can in the market is brought in by collection centers to be recycled. They are convert to liquid to produce new plaques that will be turned into aluminum coils. Each pack weights what?
Approximatelly 20 kilos. -That’s 20 kilos of pressed can? -Exactly.
How many cans are in there? Depending on its size, about 1,500 cans per package. That’s a lot of can.
Gustavo, show me through the process. -Shall we? -Let’s go.
The material comes in and it’s unpacked to individual cans. Then we take out the metallic material, and a blower machine will remove the heavier cans that will fall here and be dismissed. The remaining go to the rotative sieve and to the oven to be turned back into liquid.
70% of our raw material comes from aluminum recycling. There is a huge chain of recycling: co-ops, recycling centers; many people work with recycling. By the ecological side, we consume less energy.
95% less than using raw aluminum, collected by extraction. And we emit 94,5% less carbonic gas by recycling instead of using raw aluminum. Very nice!
It makes me wonder: "How does it get here? Where the can comes from? ".
Let’s find out now. CO-OP VITÓRIA DO BELÉM EAST, SÃO PAULO COLLECT AND TRIAGE -Juliana! -Hi Cazé.
-How are you? -Nice to meet you. PRESIDENT -I’m your fan already.
We’ve just met, but I’m a fan. She’s in this can right here. Novelis is our partner for many years.
They decided to paint the waste pickers. Without them, we wouldn’t collect the cans. These are the waste pickers working.
The waste pickers are the keystone of our success in aluminum recycling. Yeah. Hey man.
Nice to meet you. The pleasure is mine. WASTE PICKER -How do you see your work contributing to the environment and the society?
It’s good for me. I don’t have a job. It was my answer for having some money.
And it is good to people, because we remove the trash from their houses. This job helps me feed my two boys, so I’m proud of it. It is a honest job.
We were discriminated. Now people see the potential. Back then, people didn’t know why we had pushcarts.
Now they understand our job is important. That’s how things get recycled, like aluminum. -How long have you been here?
-I’m in the co-op for 5 years now, but I was a waste picker for 14 years. Me and my girls picked waste in Bom Retiro. That’s how we kept alive.
What recycling changed in your life? The way I see the environment. There are a lot of recycling stations where people like you and me can drop-off household recycling waste.
Let’s meet them. -Good morning. -Hello.
-Lais. -Nice to meet you. -And you?
-I’m Cidelia. -Did you brought something? -Some cans and PET bottles.
WORKER -People bring waste? All the time. They bring bags.
We take inside, unpack it and separate. What is the social impact of your contribution? CONSUMER -Preserving the planet.
There are many natural consequences, and people need to know that. Awareness is crucial. The more we understand the recycling process, the more we feel impress and engaged by these people’s strength and talent to make the magic happen.
They are the true champions and that is why I’ll give them this trophy. A round of applause. You deserve it.
People take our job as granted, dirty and humiliating, but people here are worthy, they should be appreciated and taken cared of. This makes our world a better place. Our daily consumption, only in São Paulo, generates over 12,000 tons of waste but 40% of these 12,000 tons can be recycled.
Today we only recycle 7%. If we are the number one country recycling 98% of aluminum, we can do the same with paper, cardboard, glass, PET bottles and plastic, right? Let’s think about that.
We can do better, we can change the world and we will do it.
