Are you a glass bottle half-full or aluminum can half-empty person? We’ve set up a head-to-head battle to learn which container is better for the planet. So grab your soda or beer, and let’s see which serves up the most environmental pints, er, points.
Creating a can vs. building a bottle
Aluminum comes from a red sedimentary rock called bauxite. No bauxite is mined in North America, so we import it from open-pit mining operations in countries like Brazil, Jamaica, and Guinea. In 2018, Human Rights Watch warned that bauxite mining in Guinea has had “profound human rights consequences,” as some mining companies take ancestral land from rural farmers, damage local water sources, and pollute the air.
“Mining bauxite requires substantial — not just land-scarring — but also a significant amount of energy,”says Nemkumar Banthia, a University of British Columbia professor and senior Canada research chair in infrastructure, rehabilitation, and sustainability. Banthia echoed the findings of a 2008 Slate article, which found that “manufacturing a 12-ounce aluminum can is twice as energy-intensive as making a similarly sized glass bottle.”
After mining, a chemical process extracts aluminum oxide from the rock in powder form. That powder is smelted into metal using electricity and heat, and then factories convert aluminum sheets into products from car parts to beer cans. Making a can from recycled aluminum requires only 8–10% of the energy needed for new aluminum.