The Diet Coke cans filling up your recycling bin could have a much shorter journey to their eventual destination thanks to a planned recycling center in Rosemount.

Spectro Alloys recently broke ground on a $71 million, 90,000-square-foot expansion to its campus in Rosemount, which will be the first of its kind in Minnesota. The new facility will allow Spectro Alloys to recycle scrap aluminum from building demolition, automotive scrap and industrial type sources, not to mention those beverage cans in single-sort recycling bins.

Currently, once aluminum beverage cans are sorted, they need to be sent to other states to be recycled.

Recycling aluminum is particularly important, said officials from both Spectro Alloys and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, because aluminum can be recycled any number of times without losing its strength or quality. Also, creating new aluminum from bauxite ore is much more energy intensive.

“It takes 95 percent less energy to produce aluminum from a can than it does from bauxite ore,” said Wayne Gjerde, recycling market development coordinator for the MPCA.

Since 1973, Spectro Alloys has recycled many other types of scrap aluminum, producing casting alloys that are turned into parts for new automobiles, appliances, power sports vehicles, lawn mowers and snow blowers among the list. The new plant will add 120 million pounds of annual recycling capacity and create up to 50 new full-time jobs.

Construction on the Spectro Alloys plant will continue through this year, and the facility is expected to begin production in mid-2025.

“It’s really exciting for us,” Spectro Alloys President Luke Palen said. “It opens the door to a whole new segment of the aluminum industry.”

From curbside to Kentucky

While the recycling journey ends for most people with the single-sort bin at the end of the driveway, that’s truly the beginning of the process for the cans’ future lives.

A worker sorts aluminum cans at Eureka Recycling in Minneapolis. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

After a resident or employee places recycling in their bin, the recycling hauler takes the waste back to a local materials recovery facility, where the plastic, metal, glass, cardboard and paper items are sorted. The materials recovery facilities sort the waste and prepare it to be sold and eventually recycled at a specific mill or facility.

At Eureka Recycling in Northeast Minneapolis, the materials come in from the hauling trucks and are dumped on what is called the tip floor, a large warehouse area. Eureka handles residential recycling from Minneapolis, St. Paul and a few suburbs.

The materials are then picked up by a front-end loader and dumped into a machine that begins the pre-sorting process. As the recycling rides up conveyor belts, workers pick out non-recyclables from the moving piles. Things like plastic bags cause the process to stall, as employees often need to stop the sorting line and cut them out of the machines.

Then, the paper, glass, aluminum and plastics are sorted, and each has a different landing place.

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For Eureka, they are able to send certain paper products to the nearby WestRock mill in St. Paul, but in the case of aluminum beverage containers, there isn’t a local facility. Eureka sends most of those cans to Kentucky.

Other material recovery facilities will send their cans to facilities in the eastern or southern United States, places such as Ohio, Georgia and Alabama.

Eureka Recycling Co-President Miriam Holsinger said that adding recycling capabilities for aluminum beverage containers is a big step for the local industry. As a recycling company, she said, they try to prioritize using local resources when possible, and take into account environmental considerations like the transportation impact. Keeping the recycling in the community where it is eventually produced again creates a circular economy.

“When we are in the recycling industry, we’re doing this to benefit our community and benefit our environment,” Holsinger said. “It’s awesome that there’s a local market.”

‘Don’t throw away a job’

An architectural rendering shows Spectro Alloys’ proposed new plant in Rosemount, which will be the first mill in Minnesota to recycle aluminum cans. (Courtesy of the Opus Group)

Currently, Minnesota only recycles 45 percent of its used aluminum beverage containers, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. That number pales in comparison to the 90-plus percent recycling rates for other types of aluminum Spectro Alloys is already focused on.

Spectro and MPCA officials alike hope that this type of facility can cause a jump in the beverage container recycling rate.

“We always say, ‘Don’t throw away a job. Don’t throw away something that you can recycle,’” Gjerde said.

For the MPCA, the focus is on getting people to recognize the missed opportunities to recycle.

MPCA Recycling Market Development Project Leader Susan Heffron said there are opportunities for people at their workplace, bars and restaurants, even home holiday parties where people sometimes forsake sorting out cans.

“For 2022, we had 17,500 tons of aluminum cans recycled from Minnesotans. What that also means is that there are 19,000 tons that could get recycled in Minnesota. There is that much additional aluminum that is being thrown away,” Heffron said.

Part of the draw in recycling aluminum is that it never loses its utility, Spectro’s Palen said.

Printer paper can be recycled six to eight times before degrading, according to MPCA experts. Plastic can only go through the process two or three times.

It’s one of the reasons that larger aluminum scrap rarely makes it to a landfill, Palen said. Garnering larger numbers in Minnesota’s aluminum can segment presents a great growth opportunity, for both his business and the environment.

“It is estimated that 75 percent of all aluminum ever created is still in use,” Palen said.

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Say this for the Minnesota Wild. They might have missed the postseason for just the second time in 12 seasons, but injuries and all, they were not among the Western Conference’s worst teams in 2023-24.

In fact, they have proven to be much better than the conference’s worst teams.

In their 80th game of the season, the short-handed Wild hammered the San Jose Sharks, 6-2, at SAP Center on Saturday to improve to 14-3-0 against the six teams below them in the conference standings.

Kirill Kaprizov finished with two goals, raising his season total to 44, and Matt Boldy scored his 28th of the season as the Wild swept their three-game season series with the Sharks, last in the West with a 19-52-9 record.

It was a big night for the Wild’s prospects, as well. Liam Ohgren, called up Wednesday to make his NHL debut this week, earned his first NHL goal and assist, and Jesper Wallstedt made 27 saves for his second NHL victory.

Rookie defenseman Declan Chisholm, claimed off waivers from Winnipeg on Jan. 29, scored his third NHL goal for Minnesota, which plays at Los Angeles on Monday before returning home for their season finale against Seattle on Thursday.

Against the other Western Conference teams that didn’t make the playoffs this season, the Wild are 16-4-2, their only losing record against ninth-place St. Louis (1-1-2). The problem, of course, is the rest of the conference, against which they are a combined 8-18-3.

Minnesota has been without key players and key times all season. They got only 16 games from team captain Jared Spurgeon before he had season-ending surgery in February, and alternate Marcus Foligno had season-ending surgery to repair core muscles on April 2.

On Saturday, the Wild played without forwards Mats Zuccarello and Freddy Gaudreau, who each missed his second game for personal reasons, but it didn’t matter against a San Jose team that has won only five times since Jan. 31.

Jan Rutta and Mario Ferrara scored for the Sharks, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 32 shots.

Ohgren, the Wild’s first-round pick in the 2022 entry draft, earned his first NHL point in the first period when he won a puck battle on the boards in the offensive zone that led to Chisholm’s goal from atop the right circle with 3:09 left in the first period. That gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

“Ohgren continues to impress,” head coach John Hynes told reporters in San Jose. “I mean, he’s got NHL speed, he’s competitive, he’s got hockey sense, he’s got a good shot.”

Playing in his second NHL game, Ohgren made it 3-1 when he backhanded a rebound past Blackwood at 14:32 of the second period. Veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian retrieved the puck from the net for his new teammate.

Rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov, who signed this winter after completing his Kontinental Hockey League season, earned an assist and was a plus-2 after scoring his first NHL goal on Thursday. Defenseman Brock Faber leads all rookies in time on ice this season, averaging 25 minutes plus, and Marco Rossi’s 21 goals are second to only Chicago’s Connor Bedard.

“It’s really good to see that not only are they getting opportunities to play, but they’re making an impact,” Hynes said.

Kaprizov scored a pair of goals late in the second period, the second after the Wild earned a power play with 36 seconds left. He one-timed a pass from Joel Eriksson Ek for his 44th goal, second in franchise history to the 47 he scored in 2022-23. The goal was his 18th power-play goal this season, a franchise record.

Jonas Brodin finished with two assists, and Kaprizov added one for his

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Minnesota United’s string of late, game-changing goals couldn’t be doubled on Saturday night at Allianz Field.

The Loons found an equalizing goal in the 70th minute, but Houston answered in the 77th to send MNUFC to a 2-1 loss.

Franco Fragapane had a scissor kick in the 8th minute of stoppage time and then Jordan Adebayo-Smith’s header nearly went in, but Dynamo goaltender Steve Clark denied both chances.

Loons players fell to the grass in disappointment when the final whistle blew.

MNUFC (3-2-2, 11 points) had a nine-match unbeaten streak snapped against Houston (4-2-1, 13 points).

Trailing 1-0 in the 70th minute, Wil Trapp’s pass played Robin Lod into space. Lod was patient to wait for Franco Fragapane’s late run into the box, and Fragapane scored.

The Loons lead didn’t last as Houston’s Sebastian Kowalczyk blasted a shot past Dayne St. Clair in the 77th minute.

Tani Oluwaseyi produced a late equalizer in the 1-1 draw with Real Salt Laka last week, but his header in the 80th minute went off the post, while Clark appeared to get a touch on the attempt as well.

United’s offense was much better than the first half, when their best first-half scoring chance came with Teemu Pukki’s high press forcing a Houston turnover in the 34th minute. Trapp pounced on the giveaway and shot, but a video review determined the ball didn’t fully cross over the line.

Four minutes later, Houston’s corner kick went of Loons midfielder Alejandro Bran’s thigh for an own goal.

The Loons attack failed to get much else going in the opening 45 minutes. Pukki had MNUFC’s only other shot on goal, while Houston had only one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Bongi Hlongwane slipped twice in the attacking third and failed to find teammates on other entries into the 18-yard box.

Houston had allowed six goals allowed in six games and a league-high 61 percent possession rate was a big reason why they had allowed so few, according to Loons coach Eric Ramsay.

The Loons created more chances to start the second half and fans responded with encouraging cheers. The best chance was Sang Bin Jeong putting a close-range shot off the post in the 60th minute.

MNUFC needed to fill two holes on the left side of its defense Saturday, with center back Micky Tapias out with a hamstring injury and Joseph Rosales suspended for a red card in draw with Real Salt Lake last weekend.

Rookie center back Hugo Bacharach made his MLS debut and first start, with Devin Padelford bumping out to left back after filling in at left center back the previous two games.

Bacharach lost an individual duel before Kowalczyk to set up the winning goal.

Briefly

Emanuel Reynoso remains away from MNUFC this weekend, but there is some movement on him potentially returning to Minnesota next week, the Pioneer Press heard Saturday. The All-Star midfielder left the team to travel to Argentina to work on his U.S. green card on March 18. He then missed his immigration meeting in Argentina on March 25 and has stayed in his native country, creating an unexcused absence from Loons. … Bran was subbed out at halftime, with Hassani Dotson coming in. Bran replaced Dotson after 45 minutes last weekend in the 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake. … Bacharach started over Victor Eriksson, who had a shaky debut in the 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on March 30. MNUFC is working to build back Eriksson’s confidence after a rough opening minutes a few weeks ago. … Saturday’s game fell on the five-year anniversary of the first contest at Allianz Field, a 3-3 draw with New York City … The game ball was delivered by Maurice Hargrow, the former Gophers men’s basketball player from St. Paul. He now works for non-profit TOUCH Outreach.

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The Denver men’s hockey team used a formula that it used throughout the postseason to wrap up its NCAA-record 10th championship.

The No. 3-ranked Pioneers scored two goals in the second period and Matt Davis stopped all 35 shots he faced to beat top-ranked Boston 2-0 in the Frozen Four championship game Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. The title breaks a tie that Denver had shared with Michigan.

Denver, which outscored its opponents 80-39 in the season, took a 2-0 lead into the third period.

Left wing Rieger Lorenz made a pass from above the top of the faceoff circle to the right of goalie Jacob Fowler down to right wing Jared Wright at the faceoff dot. Wright, a sophomore from Burnsville and a Los Angeles Kings draft pick, took a few strides toward the net and his shot went off of Fowler’s shoulder and crept over the goal line at 9:42 of the second period.

Lorenz, a sophomore from Calgary and a Minnesota Wild draft pick, made it 2-0 with his 16th goal of the season at 15:16. The play was set up with a dynamic play by freshman defenseman Zeev Buium. Buium skated up the left wing boards, drew two BC players toward him, made a power turn toward the boards and then hit Lorenz with a no-look, behind-the-back pass. Lorenz got the puck between the faceoff dot and the hash mark to the right of Fowler and beat him with a shot over his right shoulder.

That was more than enough support for Davis, who was named the Frozen Four MVP after being named the regional MVP. In four NCAA tournament games, Davis, a junior from Calgary, stopped 153 of 157 shots in the national tournament.

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