* Cans are stronger than plastics and cartons, and provide better protection.
* Cans preserve and protect the product from damage, light, oxygen, extremes of temperature and attack from contamination.
* Cans are lightweight. No other packaging would be able to withstand the necessary heat processing for preserved foods with so little weight.
* Less secondary packaging is required for transportation because cans are robust.

* Canned foods make better use of the raw products, reducing food waste.
* Cans offer a long shelf life for food products, often up to three years.
* Cans are an ambient pack, meaning that they don’t require cooling systems in the supply chain, saving energy.
* Cans are made from material produced with more than 50 percent recycled content.
* Because of their long shelf life, canned products are less likely to be thrown away before their sell-by date, saving on landfill.

* More than 7.2 million tonnes of steel cans were recycled worldwide in 2007, equivalent to a recycling rate of 68 percent according to the World Steel Association’s records for its 37 member countries.
* In some countries the steel can recycling rate reaches 95 percent.
* In Europe the recycling rate for steel cans was 69 percent in 2007 with 2.5 million tonnes recovered.
* The recycling rate in Europe for aluminium drinks cans in 2007 was 57 percent. In North America it was 52 percent.

* The more packaging is recycled the lower the carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacturing system. So with a high recycling rate cans have a low carbon footprint.
* As recycling rates increase, the amount of virgin material and energy required for manufacturing cans is reduced, producing significant environmental savings such as:
* 75 percent less energy is required to make steel than from virgin materials.
* 95 percent less energy is required to make primary smelted aluminium.
* With a steel recycling rate of 66 percent, carbon dioxide emissions are cut by 40 percent.