What happens to it?

The Tinplate Loop

Tinplate is a classic in the packaging sector. It is used mainly for vegetable and fruit cans, screw lids, crown caps and the sides and bases of beverage cans. Since tinplate consists of steel, it is easy to separate it magnetically from other lightweight packaging in the sorting plant. The tinplate packaging is pressed into bales of scrap which are returned to the steel industry for recycling.

In the steelworks, the tinplate is melted in a converter. At the end of the recycling process,  glowing steel ingots are output from the plant, They are used, for instance, as the starting material for car body parts or new tin cans. And so the loop is closed.