Reincarnated Paint Cans

Most paint cans are made of steel. Once the paint is used up (or sent for disposal/recycling through a paint exchange program), the empty can is a resource for the steel industry. Just leave the lid off so that the thin paint skin inside the can and lid dries up. Then it can be recycled with other steel food cans or taken to a scrap metal dealer. Tonnes of paint cans have been recycled through the Paint-It Recycled program.

(Please note that now empty paint cans can be taken, along with leftover paint, to any SARCAN Recycling depot.)

The paint cans are usually crushed, mixed with other scrap steel and made into new steel products. IPSCO's steel plant in Regina uses only scrap steel (no virgin ore), so all of the materials they produce have been "reincarnated." This week's old paint can could become next week's steel pipe!

(Source: WasteWatch, June 2003)

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