Aluminum Can History
The aluminum can actually has its history in glass, and it comes to us courtesy of the French government, who, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute, created a contest in 1795 in search of a food preservation method to help feed Napoleon's troops while they were away from home. The winner of the 12,000-franc prize was Nicholas Appert, who, over the course of 15 years of experimentation, came up with the method for canning food in glass jars.
Appert's method appeared in 1810, the same year Englishman Peter Durand earned a patent for a method of food preservation that used tin-coated iron containers. The tin prevented rusting and corrosion and prevented air from getting into the container, but its main advantage was that it didn't break like glass.
Canning began in America in 1812, when British immigrant Thomas Kensett set up a canning shop in New York City, where he canned with glass jars. Glass soon became cost-prohibitive to his business, so he switched to tin, eventually, along with his father-in-law, earning a U.S. patent for preserving food in tin.
Although aluminum is pervasive in beverage canning today, its use didn't come about until 1963, when Reynolds Metals Company manufactured a can for a diet cola called Slenderella. Royal Crown was the first major soda company to switch to aluminum, and by 1967, Pepsi and Coca-Cola had also jumped on board. Aluminum cans were lighter, easier to manufacture, didn't rust, and could display eye-catching graphics all around the can. Its usage increased, and by 1985, aluminum was the most popular beverage packaging material.
Aluminum's popularity comes from the fact that it is also easily recyclable. People were becoming more interested in recyclable materials to keep landfills down. According to The Aluminum Association, over 50 percent of cans produced annually are recycled, keeping over two billion pounds of aluminum out of landfills. Once recycled, it can be back on the shelf within 60 days (the lifespan of most aluminum cans are about two weeks). Manufacturers who use recycled aluminum to make new cans also receive a little side benefit in that that use 95 percent less energy in the can making process, which results in considerable cost savings.
Over the years, technology has been used to improve and lighten aluminum cans. Originally, cans weighed three ounces. By using less material per can, they now weigh only about a half-ounce. This innovation alone saves about 200 million pounds of aluminum per year, which means that 24-pack you just bought is a smart environmental choice.