The US National Soft Drink Association have reported that the recycling rate for soft drink containers reached 58.7 per em cent in 1997. Americans recycled 51.9 billion soft drink containers in 1997, a new record (up by 3.5 billion containers since 1996). the 51.9 billion units recycled last year included 44 billion aluminium cans, 7.6 billion plastic bottles and 300 million glass bottles