Ball Introduces Sustainability Breakthrough In Aluminum Aerosol Packaging

Ball Corporation announced a metal technology breakthrough that enables the use of recycled aluminum in the manufacture of extruded aluminum packaging for aerosols. The resulting new metal alloy exhibits increased strength and allows lightweighting of the container without affecting package integrity. Ball's technology breakthrough will allow the company to lightweight its extruded aluminum aerosol packaging by as much as 10 percent, with further lightweighting expected in the future.

Currently, almost all extruded aluminum aerosol packaging is made from virgin aluminum "slugs." These metal disks are impact extruded to produce packaging for aerosol products ranging from body sprays, sun screens, air fresheners and numerous other markets. Ball, the world's largest producer of aluminum slugs and of recyclable aluminum beverage cans, will use aluminum recycled from Ball's global beverage can operations to produce the company's new slugs.