Many recycling centers and public recycling programs don’t accept aluminum foil, leaving many scratching their heads as to why. If you can recycle an aluminum can you should be able to recycle foil as well, right? The fact is, aluminum foil is 100% recyclable though the catch is that it is often much dirtier than cans. With the sheets of foil often being filled with food waste that can lead to contamination, many recycling center simply won’t accept it. While American households recycle up to 70% of their household aluminum waste, most of that is from cans, leaving thousands of tons of foil sheets for the landfill. According to reports, we throw away enough foil each year to build a fleet of aircraft and recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.