Sage Hill stories & guides
What Do Your Recycled Beverage Containers Become?
Follow Alberta's beverage containers from depot sorting to new cans, plastic goods, paper products and insulation.
The refund is one step in a longer journey
After you return your drink empties, the materials continue through Alberta's collection and processing system. Containers are sorted, prepared for transport and sent to suitable end markets. Separating beverage-container materials from other waste helps keep those streams cleaner and more useful to manufacturers. The eventual use depends on the material, rather than simply on the shape of the bottle.
Aluminum and plastic
Aluminum beverage cans are made into new cans. Clear PET drink bottles are processed into flakes or pellets that can be used in new food-grade beverage containers. Other plastics, including coloured PET and HDPE, can become material for non-food plastic products. A returned plastic bottle therefore does not have one universal destination.
Glass and cartons
Alberta Depot describes glass beverage containers being crushed and processed in Airdrie for fibreglass home insulation. Fibre recovered from cartons can be used in paper products, including cardboard and tissue. These examples show why a container's next life may look very different from its first one.
Be careful with 'everything becomes something new'
Not every part of every container becomes another manufactured product. Labels, moisture and other contaminants can create losses. Alberta Depot also identifies energy recovery as the route for drink pouches and bag-in-box bladders where suitable material markets are limited. It is more accurate to describe each material's route than to promise that every returned package becomes a new bottle.
Your part starts at home
Collect eligible beverage containers in a convenient spot, empty them and give them a quick rinse before your depot visit. Plastic caps and labels can stay on for depot returns. Keep household items out of the bag and ask about anything unfamiliar. You do not need to predict the final product to make a useful return: a well-prepared collection gives the system a better starting point.