Greyparrot: US landfills over USD 1bn of aluminium cans a year
Waste intelligence firm Greyparrot estimates that more than USD 1 billion worth of aluminium cans are sent to landfill in the United States each year, with around 11 million MWh of energy wasted in the process. The company puts the 2023 US can recycling rate at about 43 percent, with 61 billion of 107 billion cans shipped that year not recovered, even as the country sourced USD 26.5 billion of aluminium imports in 2025.
Why this mattersLow US can recovery keeps the country reliant on imported primary aluminium, raising feedstock costs and carbon intensity for can makers and brand owners.
- US aluminium can recycling rate stood at about 43 percent in 2023, Greyparrot says.
- 61 billion of 107 billion cans shipped in the US in 2023 ended up in landfill.
- Landfilled cans represent more than USD 1 billion in value and around 11 million MWh of wasted energy annually.
- US aluminium imports totalled USD 26.5 billion in 2025, with net imports covering around 60 percent of domestic supply.
- Recycled aluminium requires about 95.5 percent less energy than primary production, per Greyparrot.
- European aluminium beverage can recycling reached a record 76 percent in countries with deposit return systems, against 43 percent in the US
- Greyparrot's Analyzer cameras at Circular Services' Sunset Park facility recover 89 percent of incoming aluminium, about 91,000 cans a day or 33m a year