27,000 Benefits of Recycling Aluminum!
Our ever-developing world continues to demand more and more metals, and our planet only has a limited amount to offer. This makes metal recycling essential for our continuing human prosperity and it carries many environmental and financial benefits with it as well.
One such metal, aluminum, also claimed as the “Miracle Metal”, is an integral part of our modern world. It is actively used to manufacture beverage cans, boats, vehicles, outdoor furniture, windows, doors, airplanes, and other items. And fortunately, aluminum is easy to recycle and a beverage can might even find a new life as an aircraft or automotive part. Recycling aluminum also offers several other benefits which we’ll look into in this article.
Mining Raw Materials Directly from the Environment is a Bad Idea
Unlike other metals, aluminum is not naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust. Bauxite ore should be mined and then smelted through a refined process in order to create the material. The physical mining of the ore disrupts the surrounding land, and causes soil erosion, despite efforts to rebuild the land following the completion of a mining project. The extraction process is also time-consuming and requires an incredible amount of energy while employing the use of harmful chemicals that leeches into groundwater and causes widespread damage to people and the environment.
Benefits of Recycling Aluminum
Did you know? One pound of aluminum cans if recycled can save about 7 kWh of electricity. Or, just to make one can from scratch via the extraction process from bauxite, we could have made 20 recycled cans. Interesting, right? Let’s look into the benefits of recycling aluminum,
● Aluminum Recycling is Profitable. While the price may vary based on the respective metals market, aluminum is consistently considered to be one of the most valuable materials.
● Recycling Aluminum is Easy. It’s such a valuable, highly sought-after material that processing facilities make recycling incredibly simple when it comes to aluminum. Further, as curbside pickup is available through many local recycling companies, most processing centers also accept it directly from consumers in any amount. In many places, you can bring in a bag full, and you’ll get paid cash by its weight.
● Recycling Aluminum is Fast and Efficient. To many people’s surprise, recycling aluminum uses just 5% of the energy of manufacturing virgin metal. Even a new can of soda can be recycled and back on the shelf in as little as 60 days.
● Keeps the Aluminum Out of Landfills. Truth is that it takes about 500 years for an aluminum can to break down in a landfill. That’s why it is such a waste to treat used aluminum items this way when you dispose of them since they are so highly recyclable.
● Aluminum Can be Recycled Indefinitely (Yes! You heard it right). Unlike other materials that lose their structure as they’re recycled, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely with no loss of function or its durability.
The benefits of recycling aluminum can’t be overestimated. And yet nearly $1 billion worth of the metal ends up in US landfills every year.
Manufacturing Virgin Aluminum Requires 95% More Energy Than Recycling
From mining to smelting, to manufacturing, creating new aluminum requires 95% more energy than recycling the same amount of aluminum. To put it another way, recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to listen to a full album on an iPod or power a television for three hours; manufacturing virgin aluminum uses that much energy many, many, many times over. In fact, the amount of energy used to manufacture new aluminum produces 95% more water and air pollution than the recycling process.
We must acknowledge that the benefits of recycling aluminum are many. But if it is not recycled, the negative impact on the environment is way far more troubling than just the billions in lost profits.
Conclusion
It's quite well known that even the simplest actions can make a big difference in the health of the environment. Nothing may be more important than recycling aluminum instead of sending it to the landfill.
One ton of recycled aluminum saves the same carbon dioxide emissions produced by driving 27,000 miles. Also, the waste from throwing away one aluminum can is comparable to pouring out half the can's volume of gasoline. Inherently, aluminum is a truly sustainable metal and can be recycled over and over again. So, in a perfect world, acknowledging the need to improve recycling rates while working out a solution to meet that goal within each specific community becomes more important.
And while everyone does not need to use the same solution to prevent wasting aluminum, everyone must keep the same mission in mind. Recycling aluminum is always worth it.