"aluminum" news and stories

Budweiser mastered the mass-marketing of beer across America. And Miller gave us the first mainstream "lite" beer, creating a nationwide sales phenomenon. But Coors gave us the aluminum can.

The Rocky Mountain News reported that yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Coors unveiling the U.S. beer industries "first seamless, recyclable aluminum beer can." Previously, beer was canned in tin containers that were hard to recycle and tainted the beer's taste. Industry transition to the now ubiquitous aluminum can didn't happen overnight -- other brewers with entrenched interests objected -- but eventually the entire steel beverage can industry was rendered obsolete.

To this day, Coors owns and helps operate the nation's largest aluminum can manufacturing plant. And in today's "go green" world, Coors also likes to remind us that in 1959, immediately after introducing the aluminum can, "Coors launched a recycling revolution by offering a penny for every can returned to the brewer." As they succinctly state in their environmental stewardship brochure: "We invented the recyclable aluminum can."

So Coors may or may not have been the alcoholic beverage of choice that caused that vagrant you see collecting aluminum cans to live on the street, but they're definitely the ones who helped give him a second chance!

What?! Too soon? Come on, it's been 50 years! Happy golden anniversary to Golden, Colorado's aluminum can.

[via Rocky Mountain News]

There are a lot of different kinds of pots and pans out there, and everyone's singing the praises of one or the other. Ignoring makers, Harold McGee of The New York Times put the different metals to the test.

We know aluminum pans to be the cheapest and lightest. Stainless steel looks beautiful forever and functions well at very high heat. Cast iron holds heat longer and is safe for popping in the oven after you've done what you need to on the stove--and it's even rumored to add nutritional iron to foods! Copper, the usual cream of the crop; typically the most expensive and prettiest, conducts heat evenly and quickly. Most copper pots and pans are coated with stainless steel (older copper pans coated with tin or nickel may be harmful, check your pans).

According to McGee's home test, electrical or open flame on your stove doesn't make much of difference, but the pans definitely all behave differently. His conclusions? To each his own.

Source

What do you get when you combine hundreds of engineers, a charitable mindset and about a zillion aluminum cans?

You get Canstruction. Each year, major cities across the U.S. raise awareness about hunger by hosting building competitions, which are then deconstructed and distributed to local food pantries and day care and senior centers.

Since 1992, Canstruction has donated ten million pounds of canned food to organizations, and one hundred more competitions are scheduled for this year.

The designs range from an octopus to bowling pins to a lotus blossom, each carefully designed and meticulously constructed. And if you think the hot dog and condiments are cool, check out the gallery for more food-inspired designs.

Everyone nowadays is concerned about the environment. Big business is especially concerned with its image. It wants the valuable consumers that a good green image can bring.

Coca Cola is no different, of course. The soft drink giant has already taken a number of steps to green-ify its image. The beverage maker has already pledged to recycle all of its plastic packaging in the US. Now it's time to tackle aluminum. Coca Cola has now decided that it will recycle 100% of the aluminum cans produced in the US.

To coordinate everything, the drink maker even created a whole division dedicated to collecting and recycling all of its waste packaging. Coca Cola Recycling just built a plant in South Carolina. The division says that the aluminum recycling initiative will use 95% less energy and reduce carbon emissions by 95% than creating new cans.

So here you go; another big company working to beef up its green image. I think it's great. A company as big as Coca Cola recycling all of its waste can make a huge impact on what goes in the landfills. It also makes a lot of business sense. So this kind of thing is a win-win for everyone.

The theft of beer kegs from pubs and breweries is on the rise in the UK, according to a recent story in The Publican. Apparently beer isn't what the thieves are after, however. High prices of aluminum and steel are to blame, with kegs being worth around £50 (approximately $90). One brewery actually reported a theft of 100 kegs in 13 minutes one night. Some thieves are even posing as beer distributors collecting empties. Local police are urging pub owners to keep their kegs in more secure locations for now.