| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 97 14:48 WET From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Aerosol cans and propellants (Dave)
March 31, 1997
Dear Dave,
Yes, aerosol cans are recycled. Safety precautions need to be taken (empty them) and empty by US EPA definitions mean that less than 3% of the original contents were inside and the mean combined residual in empty ones is below 3%, the materials can be baled, ground and shredded. Pittsburgh, e.g. has been running an aerosol can recycling program. One firm manufacturing equipment specific to recycle aerosol cans is Beacan Engineering Co of Jasper, GA.
Saturn Corp. the General Motors subsidiary has also been running a program. And the process has been extensively promoted by the Steel Recycling Institute. Speak with their Northeast representative, Paula Thompson, Boxborough, MA (508-266-1847) for more information; also, the US Conference of Mayors once upon a time put out a pamphlet (that was sufficiently descriptive as to be useful) called Missing a Resource?: Maximize Steel Collection with Aerosol Recycling . It came out sometime in 1994. The Mayors Conference can be reached as 202-293-7330.
-- Research Library for RCRA