Aluminium aerosol cans are significantly less likely to be recovered during recycling operations than drinks cans, according to new research using AI to analyse waste streams.
Conducted by waste intelligence company Greyparrot, the analysis found that aluminium aerosols achieved a sorting success rate of 68%, compared with 85.3% for conventional drinks cans – a difference of more than 17 percentage points.1
The findings draw on data from the company’s Deepnest platform, which analysed 1.2 billion waste items across facilities in the UK, US and Netherlands, including 395,424 aerosols.
The results were discussed during a recent webinar involving representatives from waste management company Biffa, packaging manufacturer Ball Corporation and the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).
While aluminium can be repeatedly recycled without losing its inherent material properties, the findings suggest that the design and physical condition of aerosol containers make them more difficult to recover using conventional sorting equipment.
Greyparrot estimates that the overall aerosol recycling rate is approximately 40% when losses during household collection are taken into account. The 68% figure therefore represents sorting performance for material reaching recycling facilities, rather than the proportion of all discarded aerosols ultimately recycled.
Why aerosols are harder to recover
One of the most striking findings is the extent to which aerosols become deformed before reaching sorting equipment.
According to Greyparrot, 88% of aerosols arrive at facility infeed points squashed or misshapen, primarily because of compaction during waste collection rather than damage sustained inside the recycling plant.
Their construction also creates difficulties for conventional separation equipment.
Compared with drinks cans, aerosols can have thicker metal walls and contain additional plastic or steel components. These affect how the containers respond to eddy current separators, which use magnetic fields to eject non-ferrous metals from mixed waste streams.
The additional weight of non-conductive plastic components can reduce the distance aerosols are thrown by the separators, potentially causing them to miss the intended collection stream. Steel valve cups may also cause some containers to be diverted into ferrous metal streams by overhead magnets.
Component detachment presents another problem. Greyparrot’s analysis found that more than 96% of aerosol caps and approximately half of spray nozzles become detached before sorting. The separated plastic components may enter residual waste streams, while plastic remaining attached to recovered metal is generally removed during subsequent smelting.
In particular, the webinar participants identified adjustments to eddy current separator belt speeds, rotor speeds and splitter positions as potential ways to improve the recovery of heavier aerosol containers.
Changing recycling streams
The research comes as the UK prepares to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in October 2027.
As drinks cans are increasingly collected through dedicated return systems, aerosols are expected to account for a greater proportion of the aluminium remaining in kerbside recycling streams.
This could increase the importance of adapting MRF sorting systems to recover non-beverage aluminium packaging effectively.
Under packaging extended producer responsibility arrangements, non-beverage aluminium faces a recycling target of 50% by 2030, according to Alupro.2
Alupro’s UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative has previously identified weaknesses in both collection and sorting. Research undertaken by Resource Futures found that 56% of non-ferrous aerosols and 63% of ferrous aerosols were present in recycling rather than residual waste streams in the local authority areas examined.
The initiative has called for improvements in public recycling information, collection arrangements and the ability of MRFs to identify and separate aerosol containers.
Greyparrot’s findings add detailed operational evidence to this work, identifying how packaging design and separator configuration influence the likelihood of aerosols being recovered.
For recycling operators, improved capture could reduce losses of valuable secondary aluminium while limiting the amount of recoverable metal sent for disposal.
The findings identify opportunities to improve aerosol recovery through adjustments to sorting equipment, such as eddy current separator settings.
Notes
[1] Greyparrot (2 November 2026), “Closing the 17-point aerosol recovery gap: Unlocking high-value metal and new opportunities for waste managers under DRS”, published in Circular Online.
[2] Alupro, “A roadmap to increasing UK aerosol recycling rates”, UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative.
