Aluminium cans

Approximately 1 billion are produced in the USA each year. The first can was designed in 1958 by Kaiser Aluminium. This metal proved ideal as it was a lightweight, flexible material that allowed manufacturing of the bottom & sides of the can from a single sheet, leaving the top to be added after the can was filled.

The first cans were opened with a separate opener but this was inconvenient so Ermal Fraze designed a small lever attached to the can which was removed as the can was opened.

The design was workable but after a while it created an ethical dilemma:

which was because Fraze didn’t think through the implications of billions of discarded pull tabs which caused pollution, foot injuries, and harm to fish and infants who ingested them.

So in 1976 Daniel F. Cudzik invented a simple, stay-attached opener of the sort familiar today.

As improvements were made in the design & production of aluminium cans, various  ethical problems arose concerning:

a.      Human safety: A Canadian study has found significant levels of the controversial chemical BPA in energy drink and soda cans. those cans are treated with a BPA-containing liner to prevent drinks from coming in contact with metal. BPA is an estrogen-based hormone disrupter that leaches into our food and then into our body. It has been linked in lab animals to cancer, obesity, diabetes, fertility problems and behavioral disorders.

b.     Environmental pollution: Even though aluminum cans are environmentally good when recycled, more than 100 billion aluminum cans are sold in the United States alone each year, but less than half are recycled. A similar number of aluminum cans in other countries are also incinerated or sent to landfills. which means 1.5 million tons of unrecycled cans every year, which will be replaced with new cans from new materials.

c.      Convenience: Well, aluminum is light so it’s easy to open and carry, also it won’t rust so it’s quite appropriate since most cans contain water. Also it keeps liquids for a long time without contamination and helps the liquids in cans cool. Similar effects come from plastic and glass but when thinking of recycling aluminum is cheaper and better at recycling for the environment, so mostly aluminum cans are very convenient when using, recycling, making and keeping for a long period of time.

d.     Money:  in business, it's all about money, the bottom line. I'd guess that aluminum is cheaper to buy and make into a can. Aluminum is lighter than tin or steel, so the trucks which carry all those soft drink cans to the stores will use less fuel if the cans are aluminum.