La Croix: A Refreshing Drink With Repercussions

La Croix is one of the most popular beverages around. Selling roughly 2.6 billion cans per year and 7.1 million cans per day, it is one of the most enjoyed drinks around. However, the monstrosity of our society's La Croix consumption comes at a cost. While the intricate designs on the cans attract many customers, the cans themselves aren't as pretty as they seem.

The cans are made from aluminum, which requires a large amount of energy to construct them. The cans weigh around 12.88 grams or 0.45 ounces each. This means that around 33,444 metric tons of aluminum are used each year to make La Croix cans. Now, it takes about 7.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity per pound of aluminum to form the cans. That would take around 552 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. The average American home uses around 10,400 kilowatt-hours of energy per year, which means that over 53,000 households can be powered by the amount of energy it takes to shape the aluminum cans. All in all, these cans, are energy-consuming and wasteful.

So, what can we, as consumers, do to help? Simply recycle the cans when finished. While it seems quite obvious, almost $900 million worth of aluminum cans are not recycled. Cans that end up in the landfill are wasting even more materials and energy, and are posing even more harm to the environment. However, when we recycle these cans, they have the chance to be reused and repurposed. In addition, recycling just ONE POUND of aluminum saves 7 kilowatt-hours of energy! Although it does not seem like much, this small step of recycling can have a lasting positive effect on the environment.

Sources: Forbes, Grist, Fortune, The World Counts, Environmental Conservation, CNN, Science Mag, Stanford, Environmental Leader, U.S. Energy Information Administration