CAN BANK NOUN (ENVIRONMENT)

A collection point to which empty cans may be taken for recycling. Etymology: For etymology, see bottle bank. History and Usage: With increasing consumption of fizzy drinks from ring-pull cans in the eighties, the can bank was a natural development of the recycling idea started by the bottle bank. So far there are less than 200 'can banks' operated by 60 local authorities in Britain. One big problem is that it isn't easy enough to distinguish steel from aluminium. John Button How to be Green (1989), p. 112