Peeling the labels off beer cans

I think historically that labels have been paper that easily burns during the re-melting process, but some breweries use plastic and that may be a different issue.

 

Those are definitely glued on, I'm not doing that.

 

But if it turns out that the labels do indeed contaminate the load of recycling (again, not sure if that's true or not) would you do it?

 

Not if it creates a sticky mess or uses a lot of water. I don't recycle "gunky" bottles that would take gallons of water, such as various hair goos like conditioners or oily sauces. I just can't bring myself to waste water just to recycle, since water conservation is as important as recycling. Same thing with beer labels, I'd do it if they just peeled off, which is doubtful.

 

I had literally never heard or thought about this. Maybe the redemption is why.

Which I'm secretly glad, I don't need another step complicating my beer drinkiong.

 

In my early homebrewing days, I would soak bottles in hot water and Oxyclean. On most bottles, the labels end up sliding right off.

Of course this is for reusing purposes, not recycling purposes.

 

And I think the bottles/cans get crushed when they get back to the distributors' warehouse. Hopefully they get recycled after that, but I really doubt that any distributor removes labels before crushing them.

 

I've got the same issue here. With all cans and bottles going back for deposit, I don't take the label off as it has the barcode for the automated return machines. Even when not using a machine, the MA law is written so that places that sell returnable containers only need to accept those brands and package types that they sell; if you wanted to peel labels, you'd likely limit yourself to using only official redemption centers, which aren't always convenient and are allowed to take a cut from your deposit for the service.

 

Your right. After I reread it. I see what you’re saying. Thank you.
Cheers!

 

"Seven-Ounce Brown Glass Refillable Bottles: It's Time.™ For The Earth.™"

 

Yeah, if there is a need to conserve water in your area then I get where you're coming from for sure. I'm quite privileged not to have to worry much about conserving water. I wonder if there is a substance that easily removes the labels? Maybe you could mix up some combination of stuff that would do it for you. Then you could just a fill a contract bucket with said substance (assuming it was cheap and easy to make) and throw your bottles and can into said bucket. After some period of time, you could pull your naked cans and bottles out and recycle the. I dunno. Just trying to find a way to conserve water and still recycle the cans/bottles with ease.

 

Nice post, OP, I'll give major PROPS and KUDOS to TRVE Brewing, who have started to do a kind of incorporated, perforated, line down the side of their beer cans, so you just tear off at top or bottom, and zzziiipppp, down the can, remove label, and either dispense with or make some cool artistic collage with them. Just sayin'!
More breweries need to do this.

 

Reminds me of when I collected stamps. Did that soaking and sliding off, drying and pressing. May give some beer bottles a shot. Most cans here though have the label painted directly on the metal I think, will not start to cut that . Out of beers right now, but when the haul soon arrives will check out thoroughly.

 

I take the labels off cans, but, being past the ‘collector’ days of my life, I put outrageous labels on non-outrageous things.

Like the killer (pun intended) label off ‘Eat The Rich’, from the Extreme Beer Box, now gracing a tub of organic raw fiber.,. of course I remove it when empty.,.

 

About a half dozen* local and Minnesota canned-for-distro breweries use the same (or similar) shrink-sleeve. Saves time and sanity, for me.

Still, the rush to silver bullet cans wrapped with those super-sticky mylar labels has me fondly remembering the old days of glass bottles and the earlier days of recycling.

*Of our now nearly 300!

 

I did not know about this. How sure are we that cans with labels cannot be recycled? If so, I've probably recycled thousands of cans in vain. I have never tried removing a label, but a label book is a cool idea. If this is true are there little men behind the curtain at the recycling plant pulling off all of my labels? Seems silly to say recycle the can while not mentioning labels if that is an issue.

 

Painted cans certainly can't be an issue or the soft drink industry would have told us about it long ago. I can't think of any soft drink that uses a shrink-wrap or stick-on label, but if there are any there likely would be advice on the label to remove it before recycling.

 

To borrow from @mactrail (post #8) with emphasis in bold by me:

“When these aluminum cans are melted down for recycling, the labels are burned off and can cause equipment issues, hazardous emissions, impurities in the molten aluminum and other problems.

Currently the numbers of these types of cans in the overall mix are low enough that it isn’t causing a huge problem,..."

Cheers!

 

They're not pulling anything off, at least not labels.

 

The labels peel off the cans very easy. Just a few scratches to the corner pulls it up and then you pull it off. Some are very sticky and some not so. No big deal to do it for me. No water involved

Enjoy