Your Soda Can Owes Its Flavor And Freshness To The Protective Plastic Lining Inside

Plastic rarely comes with a happy connotation. People often associate the word with terms like "artificial," "pollutant," and "lifeless," not to mention being a nuisance to the environment as a contributor to climate change. However, while there need to be measures to reduce its presence in our lives, plastic plays an important role when it comes to public health. Plastic's applications in the medical and scientific fields are obvious, but there are several ways it impacts food packaging and safety as well. In fact, even aluminum beer and soda cans come with a plastic lining to protect the quality of your drink.

The liquid's acidity can corrode aluminum over time, which could lead to the metal shedding off into the drink and then your body. However, the type of plastic used in most soda packaging does not cause the same reaction. Aluminum is virtually everywhere, so our bodies are used to processing a certain amount, but overexposure places our health at risk. This thin layer of plastic preserves the taste and puts a barrier between the drink and the metallic can itself. This is also why you should be wary of any company claiming to use "plastic-free" packaging with their aluminum cans.

Just because these aluminum cans contain some plastic doesn't mean they're the same as a fully plastic container. Aluminum can be recycled multiple times over without losing quality, and the plastic attached to it is burned off during the recycling process, leaving only the pure material. The drawbacks of using aluminum fall on the manufacturer, with it being a more expensive material to use and requiring a significant amount of energy to create. The upside is that aluminum's recycling process is far more energy-efficient than standard plastic, and it's more likely to be recycled in the first place.

Environmental concerns aside, aluminum cans are efficient for packaging and selling in bulk. It's easier to grab a single long case of cans than multiple packs of oblong plastic bottles. Aluminum cans keep your beverages colder for longer in the cooler due to their thermal conductivity. Plus, you can stack more cans than bottles inside to keep the temperature down in your cooler. There's a reason Diet Coke fans have very specific container preferences for their favorite drink. For the sake of storage and preservation, it's worth having aluminum cans lined with a small bit of plastic as an alternative to only plastic bottles.