Yet another use for the FEL

[Farwell]

In the area of Michigan where I live the containers have to go through a machine that reads the bar code printed on the container so the containers have to be in good shape or the machine rejects them. The machine takes glass, plastic and aluminum.
Where I lived in California the containers were crushed so they would occupied a smaller space and were hauled to a scrap yard that weighed them and paid by the pound plus a state refund amount. I had a heavy duty steel can crusher that my son made for me that crushed them to about 1/4 inch thick.
Guess the condition varies from state to state.

 

[woodlot]

Carefull with that pepsi on the concrete. My wife left a paper bag of "empty" coke cans on my garage floor and the coke soaked bag seriously etched the concrete! I was quick to point out that my beer cans never do that.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I wouldn't make a habit of driving over them. If the things fold just the right way, they can form a point and puncture a tire, which would put a serious dent in your recycling profits.

You're kidding!? I can see how in theory under perfect conditions this could happen, but I just don't think in the real world it would.

I want to hear first hand from someone who actually had this happen to them.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Carefull with that pepsi on the concrete. My wife left a paper bag of "empty" coke cans on my garage floor and the coke soaked bag seriously etched the concrete! I was quick to point out that my beer cans never do that.

I actually was watching for that. I know that just about any soda can be pretty corrosive. I've heard of guys freeing seized engines with a can of coke.

Additionally, I worked in an organic chemistry student lab for a while when I was in college. When students welded their glassware together with boiling fuming nitric acid, we'd go through a process of progressively more aggressive caustics. When all else had failed, we'd invite the student to go buy a can of Sprite. We'd soak the glassware in the Sprite overnight, and almost every time, the joint would come apart with very little effort.

I just realized something as I write this...Why didn't we just start with the Sprite?