Massive Can Meltdown - How Much Pure Aluminum Is In 500 Cans - Is It Worth Melting Aluminum Cans

I work for an aluminum rolling company. Scrap aluminum is incredibly valuable because of the INSANE amount of energy and cost required to produce prime aluminum from bauxite ore. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable - meaning it will not lose its properties over time as it undergoes various transformations. The key is simply to have large scale, efficient industrial processes. The margins are small for can stock but they add up when you apply them accross the 100s of millions of pounds produced each year

So is it worth melting down 500+ aluminum cans? Short answer...NO. Total the time- just over 2 hours to melt these all down, plus setup and clean up time. Total the propane cost- I used about 2/3 of a tank, so depending on what you pay for propane near you...for me it’s about $10-12. The result of the10.75lbs of aluminum is worth about $10.75 USD. The fuel alone costs more than the aluminum is worth, then take into consideration what your time is worth and you’re way over budget! For me...there is everything I just mentioned, plus add another 2 hours to sand, polish, and shine one of these ingots, and another 8-10 hours editing to provide 12 minutes of cheap entertainment & enjoyment. Long answer...worth every second 😉👍 Thank you all for watching, I hope you enjoy, and stay awesome!

Random videos like this keep me sane when waking up in the middle of the night strssing about life.

You could totally sell the polished ingots, although it would cut into the growing stack. You need a “growing stack” mold that marks the bars. I find these videos astonishingly satisfying to watch.

No bs，no noisy music，just birds sing，lovely👍

I work in a aluminum recycling facility and our average recovery rate from UBC or Used Beverage Cans is 97%. That's not to say the plant losses that 3%, we skim the dross and remelt it over and over again. The plant also remelts bulk dross from large manufacturers such Kaiser and Toyota.

If you shred the cans, it will increase the surface area of the aluminum causing you to melt the cans quicker. This will also save you fuel as well. Love the vids btw

Melting is rarely worth the time and money but ALWAYS worth the fun and the goodies you can add to your stack! Nice video brother - enjoyed!

I would like to send you a little something but my Old age penson doesn’t allow for anything extra.above basic cost of living. I do enjoy immensely watching your channel. Thank you for taking us along on all your melts. Stay safe God bless. 🇨🇦

The sounds made by the ingots hitting the concrete, the ice hissing with the heat. This is one of the most interesting and enjoyable vids I've seen in a long time 👍🤩

Am I the only one that found the most impressive thing about this video (aside from the rest of the obvious awesomeness) is that he wrote the numbers upside down so perfectly? :D

Found your video quite by accident. And it was oddly satisfying to watch!! Thank you for posting it!

I started collecting cans off the streets the last few months, they are worth €0.65 per Kg. I have 35 Kg at present, I'll cash them in at Christmas. At least I'm doing my bit for the environment, I collect plastic and glass also to recycle.

This just makes me think. There was a time you would not dream of throwing away precious material like metal. And now, we do it all the time.

Pouring molten metal looks so satisfying honestly.

Great video, I took around 200-300 cans that I had saved over around 4/5 months to my scrap yard here in the uk. Never taking in cans previously was unsure what to expect, the guy at the scrap yard told me due to the cost of what it takes to melt the cans down, the scrap yard hate taking cans as they need a hella lot of them to make any sort of profit. But looking at your aluminium pile I can see it is a labour of love especially seeing the 1 that you polished up. Makes me want to get my self a kiln and melt some down my self.

Thank you for this video. Pouring it into bars is visually amazing. I do drywall mudding and painting so I like meticulous things. I think I'm gonna give this a go.

Lot's of work to get this video done but the results are enjoyable and excellent. Well done to you. 👍

That was an excellent video! I had a metal molding kit at a teen and really enjoyed the craft.

Amazing video! You just inspired me to research this for making crafts. That polished bar is beautiful. God bless