Here's Why Smashing <br />Aluminum Cans Make <br />Them Harder to Recycle It is always a good idea to recycle or encourage others to do the same. But taking an empty product out of its original form could be a bad idea. At recycling centers, materials <br />are organized into sections <br />matching their shape. If you were to crush an <br />empty soda can, it may<br />become misidentified. Smashed cans could then end up with paper items due to the similarity <br />of their flattened shapes. Recycled paper or cardboard <br />could then be contaminated <br />by the aluminum. Some areas will recycle cans correctly regardless of what they look like. Here's an extra tip - don't throw away <br />the cap on a plastic bottle by itself. This is due to them often ending up in <br />landfills because of their small size.
