Recycling aluminum for a greener planet

Aluminum recycling is probably the best thing which contributes towards the creation of a greener planet. Unlike other metals and plastics, aluminium is 100 per cent recyclable. The metal can be melted down and reformed without losing any quality over and over again. In fact, aluminium has been recycled for nearly 100 years now and commands a high value on scrap market and this drives collection for further recycling.

Aluminum, after being recycled, has exactly the same properties as new but takes just five per cent of the energy to produce. Would you believe that an incredible 75 per cent of the metal ever made is still in use today? It is true. The metal can be reused in the production of a multitude of different products, ranging from cars to window frames, and from aeroplanes to foil trays. This endless reuse cycle is also known as ‘closed loop’ recycling.

It is thus good to know about the recycling process of the ‘green’ metal.

Collection

Cans, foils, aerosols and other items are typically collected from the waste disposal sites mixed with other metals and organic waste

Sorting

The mixed metals will be taken to a recovery facility where they are sorted into separate metal streams and compressed into bales.

Reprocessing

The aluminium bales are then taken to a reprocessing plant, where they go through four stages – shredding, decoating, melting, and casting. During the final stage, the molten metal is cast into large ingots.

Rolling

Ingots are transported to a rolling mill and rolled out to make sheet aluminium, from which new packaging can be made.

Converting

Aluminium sheet is then converted into desirable items.

Crushed aluminum cans for recycling

Discarded aluminum is more valuable than any other item in the recycling bin. The aluminum industry pays out more than a billion dollars per year for recycled cans. With even a recycling rate of approximately 67 percent, nearly a billion dollars of recycling profit can be gained.

Here are some cool facts which will make you realise the potential recycled aluminum has.

• An aluminum packaging recycled today will be back on the store shelf in about 90 days.
• Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of petrol.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your television for three hours.
• Making aluminum products from recycled aluminum takes 95% less energy than making them from virgin ore.
• There is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can be recycled with all its property intact.
• Aluminum takes 80-200 years to fully degrade in a landfill. Plastic takes nearly 450-500.
• Aluminium recycling saves over 90 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

Recycling and re-usability is the need of the hour. The cognizance of global warming as a serious global issue and focus on saving energy has become the responsibility of each and every citizen in the world. It goes without saying that companies and individuals should share this responsibility with equal fervor.