WAILUKU — Clean, rinsed food cans with the top lid removed can now be recycled at any Maui County residential recycling facility, the County of Maui Recycling Section, Solid Waste Division, has announced.

Food cans are usually made of steel, tin, aluminum and bi-metal and do not have any HI-5 value. Examples include cans that contain meats, soups, veggies, fruit, tomato sauce and coffee, county officials said in a news release.

Each county recycling center location (Waihe'e, Kahului, Kihei, Olowalu, Ha'iku, Makawao and the Central Maui Landfill) will have a green, clearly marked bin for combined recycling of aluminum and steel/tin cans.

Since the cans are sorted by hand, the public is asked to recycle only cans that are clean and rinsed with the top lid removed — labels can stay.

"We realized that food can recycling was something the community was asking for, so the County initiated a plan of action in conjunction with Maui Disposal," said Cheryl Okuma, director of the Department of Environmental Management. "We know this will require a new behavior, since we are used to having to throw out our tin cans. However, with this latest addition, County residential recycling bins can accept most every kind of can now, either as a redeemable HI-5 product or as a recycled metal."