Canning novelty. Early methods of manufacture employed poisonous lead solder for sealing the cans. Studies in the 1980s attributed the lead from the cans as a factor in the disastrous outcome of the 1845 Franklin expedition to chart and navigate the Northwest Passage. Later studies found this to be false. Increasing mechanization of the canning process, coupled with a huge increase in urban populations across Europe, resulted in a rising demand for canned food. A number of inventions and improvements followed, and by the 1860s smaller machine-made steel cans were possible, and the time to cook food in sealed cans had
History of bottle recycling in the United States companies soon started using PET to package their drinks. Over the past 20 years or so, PET bottles (Polyethylene terephthalate) have become the most common material to package beverages, replacing glass and metal. Especially water and soda was starting to be packaged in PET bottles. This is because PET has certain material properties that make it more favorable than glass or metal cans. Most importantly, PET is lightweight and difficult to break. Further, PET is clear and has "good barrier properties towards moisture and oxygen". Because of these qualities, PET has replaced glass bottles and metal cans in many instances,