How to Recycle Can Holders (rigid plastic 6-pack rings)
How to Recycle Can Holders (rigid plastic 6-pack rings)
(Originally published Sept. 28, 2019 – Updated Feb. 10, 2021 and Aug. 23, 2021)
If you are a craft beer drinker, you may have noticed more and more six-packs being packaged with new rigid plastic 6-pack holders rather than the old clear flexible plastic rings. And you are probably wondering how to recycle can holders, if that is even an option. On the one hand, the new can carriers (or can holders, can handles, rigid 6-pack rings, whatever you want to call them) are a great thing for ocean life like seagulls, turtles and fish which get caught in the old style plastic rings that look like this:
Plus which, the new can holders are made from recycled plastic milk jugs and allow six-packs to be stacked on top of each other without needing to be wrapped in additional shrink-wrap plastic or put into cartons. So they ship lighter, using less packaging and energy. That’s all great, but after the beer is drunk and the aluminum cans recycled, what do we do with these things? Can you recycle beer can holders?
Although they are marked as #2 HDPE plastic, which is quite recyclable, the problem for most recycling centers is the shape. Because of the way that recyclables are sorted at most Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), anything less than 2″ in diameter will slip through the disk screens and may end up contaminating other materials. (See this article about how recyclables get sorted in a MRF.) Therefore, most recycling programs don’t want this type of item mixed in with the rest of your curbside recycling.
Related: Do I Need to Remove Labels from Cans for Recycling?
Recycling Can Holders
If you are lucky enough to live in Massachusetts or Rhode Island, there is a movement of local breweries and beverage stores that have organized to take back can holders for recycling. Check this map for Massachusetts Can Carrier Drop-Off Locations and here for Rhode Island Can Carrier Drop-Off Locations.
If you do not live in one of those two states, the manufacturer of these rigid 6-pack rings, PakTech, is offering to take them back for recycling. They have drop-off locations, mostly at craft beer stores. Use this PakTech Recycling locator map to find your nearest drop-off location. (FYI, you may want to look at this map on a computer rather than your phone, I have problems getting the map to work on my Android phone, but it works fine on my laptop).
Once you find a local drop-off, look for this bin:
If you do not see the bin, ask a staff member, they may collect them elsewhere. If you don’t find any drop-off locations near you on the PakTech map, check with local breweries or beer stores that use these types of can holders, they may accept them for reuse, or might be convinced to start doing so if enough people request it.
After collection, the can holders are recycled into new products like flower pots, park benches and more PakTech handles.
In the future, hopefully more soda makers and breweries will consider adopting these new paperboard can carriers, which would allow us to simply throw them in with our regular paper recycling!
what is the pricing for the can carriers
Hi Danush, I don’t know. I don’t sell can carriers, I am just sharing information on how to recycle them. You would need to contact PakTech.
If you live in NYC (or want to pay for shipping) I’ve got a bunch that I’d happily give away 😉
How long is the lead time?
Are there any breweries collecting these holders? They appear to be extremely reusable, though I don’t know for sure if they actually can be used multiple times.
They do seem like they should be reusable, but I don’t know of any breweries that are taking them back for that purpose. That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to contact a few breweries directly and see if they want them.
Some breweries in Pittsburgh have said they’ll accept them for recycling or reuse. Probably up to each individual brewery.
Thanks for the info! Yes, I think it’s always a good idea to ask, you never know, they might be happy to have them.
In NYC we’ve tried in several places (breweries, beer sellers, etc.) and none accept them anymore. Since COVID looks like everyone is swamped with these.
That’s too bad, I have to admit, ours have been piling up because we haven’t taken them to our usual beer store in a while. I hope our store is still taking them.
You can send them to me!!!
How about putting them into an empty milk jug and letting them go thru the cutting / processing line together? They’re both #2. I too have many collected! Haven’t seen a retail outlet who will take them.
Hi Greg, I have a feeling the recycling center would ask you not to do that because most of them rely on the light bottles to bounce across the sorters in the early part of the process to end up in the right place, and the can carriers would weigh them down and might cause issues. If there are any breweries near you that use these types of carriers, perhaps you can put a little pressure on them to at least take them back.
I don’t mean the hard opaque can carriers that cover the entire can top. I mean the soft translucent rings that encircle each can just below the crimp, leaving the can top visible. They weigh very little. What do you think about putting them inside a milk bottle? Seems like they would still float if you didn’t put in too many rings. (I have a picture of the rings but can’t find a way to attach it to this comment.)
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP IN UNDERSTANDING RECYCLING !
I see, yes that makes more sense. Well, if they are the same plastic type and you don’t weigh down the bottle with too many, my hunch is that would probably be alright.
Iterant has created a marketplace where these carriers can be posted for resale to breweries. We have resold over 10,000 to date.
https://linktr.ee/iterant