| Recycling aluminium only takes 5% of the energy needed to produce it in the first place. A good thing then that aluminium is 100% recyclable over and over again. |
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Recycling is the process whereby a valuable resource is returned to its original state with its full properties, for infinite reuse. And in the case of aluminium, this process allows to save 95% of the energy needed to produce the virgin metal. Recycling is the ultimate environmental achievement.
Figures about aluminium recycling are impressive. In Europe’s Northern countries, up to 92% of the aluminium from beverage cans is recycled, just as 95% of the aluminium from cars and 98% from buildings. Where are the remaining percents? For example unsorted in household waste. What do we do about it? We do our best to recover it even from there! Technologies already exist and are under constant improvement to recover metallic residues from the bottom ashes of household waste incinerators. Does it really work? It does! For instance in Denmark, thanks to these efforts, the recycling rate of aluminium from household waste has reached virtually 100% in 2007. That will be hard to beat!
Today, 40% of Europe’s aluminium supply comes from recycling. No wonder then that 75% of the aluminium ever produced is still in use today!
Further reading:
From EAA:
More about aluminium recycling
From the International Aluminium Institute:
Even more about aluminium recycling
From the EAA's recycling division: the Organisation of European Aluminium Remelters and Refiners
