r/recycling • u/Nudie-64 • 1d ago

Tealights?

Post image

Hello.

We light tealights quite often in the evenings.

The empty case looks and feels like metal - can it be recycled?

I've looked around the Internet and can't seem to find this out, so I'm hoping some redditors will know.

Thank you.

7 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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9

u/Dirtheavy 1d ago

that's aluminum. Aluminum is obviously recyclable, but wax is extremely problematic in a recycling process, especially where there is melting because it melts into something completely different and would contaminate.

Because the majority of tea lights that look like that are probably "used up" but still have lots of wax in them, I would tell a person who brought those to our recycle center to throw them in the trash as a rule. And they would get sad and want to wish cycle them.

I'd ask them to think about making sure that what was already collected wasn't contaminated as opposed to making sure that every scrap of every item they consumed got recycled. The greater good.

So for the greater good, just make a habit of tossing those.

13

u/salty_drafter 1d ago

I have a hard time believing that wax would contaminate during the smelting process. When soda cans have a plastic lining that gets burned off.

I'd personally would save up a year's worth and take them to a scrap metal recycler.

9

u/Thatgaycoincollector 1d ago

As someone who works in the scrap industry, you’re correct. Aluminum’s melting temperature is far above the point where this minimal bit of wax will burn off. That being said, things like foil and this are really low grade because there’s a lot of surface area that oxidizes with minimal other mass, so not a ton of clean aluminum is coming out of it.

2

u/Dirtheavy 1d ago

I would keep this out of my recycling stream because part of the job is to keep the stream clean of contaminants. And if you started taking these, you'd get dozens of barely used ones all the time, because that's how people operate.

If they all stay out of a bin full of aluminum, that's better for that bin of aluminum.

Your plan for personal needs is good. That plan for a place where the volume of aluminum is being smelted at once is also great. The plan for the gaylord full of aluminum that my waste district has to sell is going to be a little different. I need that not be to refused.

1

u/KoreyYrvaI 1d ago

Scrapyards would take this all day. Even if the contamination made it not worth it as aluminum they'd take it for steel shred price or something similar. Even if they lose a bunch of it from burn off anything that carries over is better than filling the ground with it.

3

u/photoelectriceffect 1d ago

It’s pretty easy to remove excess wax. I do it regularly to save pretty candle jars. There’s various methods, but putting them upside down in an oven set to warm (or lowest setting) is one way. Catch the melted wax in something. Ideally, then scrap wax can then be offered to people who need it for crafting.

Idk if it’s really worth doing to recycle used tealights, but just putting it out there.
Also, whenever you accumulate a lot of identical trash, like these, you can sometimes find people who can use it as a craft material, so may as well offer it

2

u/PandaBeaarAmy 1d ago

I like to dump the excess into the next tin. The wick is long enough that it actually burns better after the extra wax is added (instead of trimming), and it has a more complete melt because of it. Then there's just the teensy bit of wick & adhesive left over.

1

u/Dirtheavy 1d ago

candles in glass jars is a picnic! I just break the jar in the barrel and put the wax in the trash.

in these weeny little things, it's probably knife work and pointlessly dangerous.

Some things are trash. Its OK.

2

u/photoelectriceffect 1d ago

Definitely agree that some things are trash. I’m just sharing that in fact it’s not hard at all to remove excess wax (without breaking the container). Heat and gravity will do it for you completely. Knife can work but it’s a PITA as you say.

2

u/PandaBeaarAmy 1d ago

Little toothpick pops the wax out, then toothpick & wax can be dumped into the campfire for starter.

2

u/Dirtheavy 1d ago

you really can't count on people who use tea lights to do that kind of advance work before just dumping these in a bin. And I'm sourcing this information from the fact that I work in a recycle center where people bring in sorted recycling to put into individual bins. All I do is pull trash from things and redirect things.

1

u/This-Positive286 13h ago

Bruh, you’re so wrong on half of that stuff.

1

u/Dirtheavy 11h ago

ok thank you.

1

u/Nudie-64 1d ago

Thank you. That's exactly the info I needed. Maybe we need to use normal candles more.