Recycle This Pittsburgh

Aluminum Foil

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A staple of the kitchen, aluminum foil itself is very recyclable but because of its form factor and how it typically comes in contact with food, it can be a contaminate for other recyclables and is not accepted by the city’s curbside recycling program. However, at least one local metal scrap collector will accept aluminum foil for drop-off (see below), you just have to make sure it’s clean.

Many aluminum foil dispensers are paperboard boxes with a cardboard tube. These pieces can be recycled with mixed paper in curbside recycling. Be sure to pull off the thin strip of metal used on the box as the cutting edge for tearing off foil pieces. That thin metal strip can also go to the metal scrap collector.

Drop-off at Tomson Scrap Metal.

Some scrap metal collectors will take aluminum foil. Recycle This has confirmed that Construction Junction’s scrap metal bin drop-off will not accept aluminum foil but Tomson’s Scrap Metal, just north of the city, will take aluminum foil at their Brackenridge location. Bring your foil in a bag or a box to their drop-off location. They may even give you a small amount of money for your foil since they do pay for scrap metal by weight (although aluminum foil is pretty light so don’t expect much.)

Consider Reusing a Few Times

Since you’ll need to clean off your foil to drop it off for recycling anyway, consider reusing it a few times first. Cleaned aluminum foil can be easily folded into flat sheets and slipped into a drawer to keep on hand to reuse. Eventually your foil pieces are likely to get holes that keep them from being useful for cooking, but until then you can use and reuse.