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> The paper companies don't want the cans because they don't want to somehow deglue the cardboard from the aluminum (time and cost expensive to process), and ditto for the aluminum people.

I'd have expected that simply melting down the stuff would burn off all the organic contaminants (paper/plastic/glue and food residue), leaving the aluminium and sludge that can be scooped off.

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Probably would still be an issue with contaminating the aluminum with carbon and possibly other impurities. You'd probably need some other process to purify the aluminum afterwards, which likely makes it too expensive.

But that process by itself is always going to be more energy efficient than winning the aluminum from bauxite ore.

Of course you need a purification step after dealing with scrap, but aluminum scrap, even when contaminated is quite valuable, basically the price is a function of how pure it already is.

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