Choosing the right material matters

Decoration on metal packaging can communicate important information to the end consumer, like the logo indicating that metal recycles forever, and does not impact the packaging’s recyclability. Direct, full-body printing creates a beautiful billboard for brands to share their messages. This process eliminates the need for secondary materials like labels and retains the can’s inherent recyclability.

In effect, metal cans provide you with a 360° canvas on which to display attention-grabbing graphics and communicate key product information that drives sales.

You can also feature a ‘metal recycles forever’ logo to advertise your brand’s eco-friendly credentials.

In order to more accurately calculate the environmental impact of different substrates, it is critical to use a Circular Life Cycle approach which accounts for the true circularity of certain materials like metals. A Cradle to Grave Life Cycle Assessment measures the impact from resource extraction (cradle) to the use and disposal phases (grave). A Circular Life Cycle Assessment goes further as the end-of-life disposal step for the product is a recycling process back to new products. Metal is a permanent material; therefore, the life cycle assessments for these materials are best captured with a Circular Life Cycle Assessment, which fully appreciates the energy footprint of packaging products made of metal.

For example, processing recycled aluminium only requires 5% of the energy required to process virgin aluminium. That means steel and aluminium perform on par or better than other substrates when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Simply put, metal has a lower carbon footprint when taking the life cycle into account. Read our Building on Life Cycle Assessments white paper.