STALLION In short: There is no single winner. A 2010 study paid for by a PET trade body found PET lowest on greenhouse gases and glass highest. An aluminium industry report says cans come back as cans more often than PET or glass do. What decides it is recycled content and how often the container comes back.
A study that favours PET
In 2010 Franklin Associates, for the PET Resin Association, compared 20 oz PET bottles, 8 oz glass bottles and 12 oz aluminium cans. Per 100,000 oz of soft drink it found 1,125 lb of CO2 equivalent for PET, 2,766 lb for aluminium and 4,949 lb for glass. That makes PET 59% lower than aluminium and 77% lower than glass.
The association then asked for a recalculation using 10,000 containers of the same size. PET still came out lower on greenhouse gases and solid waste, but total energy use was judged comparable across the three. The study left out filling, distribution and consumer use.
The view from the metal side
The International Aluminium Institute's 2025 report says 71% of cans placed on the market are recycled and 33% are made back into cans, against 7% for PET and 20% for glass in the same sense. The IAI represents the aluminium industry.
On energy, Hydro says recycling aluminium takes about 5% of the energy used to make it from ore, and a European Commission project record puts the figures at 148 MJ per kg for primary metal against 7.4 MJ per kg for remelting. A can made mostly from recycled metal carries a much smaller footprint than one made from new metal.
Why they disagree
The studies do not measure the same thing. They use different container sizes, count different stages, and assume different rates of recycling. A study paid for by one industry tends to choose assumptions that suit it, and both can be right on their own terms.
Glass is the heaviest of the three, so how far it travels matters, and a bottle that is refilled many times is a different product from a throwaway one.
What actually moves the answer
- Recycled content. More recycled metal or resin means less energy and fewer emissions per container.
- Return rate. A container that is collected and recycled beats one that is binned or littered, whatever it is made of.
- Weight and distance. Heavier packaging costs more to move.
- Cleanliness. Contamination lowers what a recycler can make from the material.
What to do with that
A can in the can bag beats a can in the wet bin, and a PET bottle weighed and sold beats one in a drain.
In Dehradun we collect cans at ₹1.5 each and PET at ₹18 per kg. We currently collect cans and PET. For glass, message us.
Common questions
Is aluminium better than plastic for the environment?
It depends on the study and its assumptions. Industry-funded studies tend to favour their own material, and recycled content and return rate matter more than the material alone.
Is glass more recyclable than cans or PET?
Glass can be recycled many times, but the IAI report counts how much comes back as the same container: 33% for cans, 20% for glass and 7% for PET.
Who paid for the PET study that found PET lowest?
The PET Resin Association commissioned Franklin Associates to carry out the 2010 comparison.
Which packaging do you collect in Dehradun?
Aluminium cans and PET bottles. For glass, message us on WhatsApp.
Sources
Next steps
Got cans? Get paid.
Free doorstep pickup across Dehradun. Paid on collection.