Is it really worth recycling aluminium cans?

Aluminium is found within many everyday objects, including CDs, refrigerators, kitchenware and much more. The element is the third most abundant in the world, so there’s no wonder why it is used in so many goods. 

Aluminium is mostly used for food and drink cans as it is the most economical solution for manufacturers, as well as being lightweight, strong and does not rust.

So if it is so abundant, then is it worth recycling aluminium cans? Keep on reading to find out more…

How aluminium is extracted

Although there is a plentiful amount of aluminium within the earth’s core, it is very expensive to extract it. This is due to the method of electrolysis. Electrolysis involves breaking down ionic substances which are then decomposed into simpler substances when an electric current is passed through them. Bauxite is the name of aluminium ore where it is first purified to produce aluminium oxide, a white powder, which can then be extracted.

China is the world’s leading producer of aluminium, extracting more than half the global output in 2018 (33 million MT to be exact!). 

To extract 1 tonne of the element, around 17,000 kWh of electricity is needed, making it extremely energy intensive. As mentioned previously, this quantity of electricity is expensive, but not only that, it can cause severe environmental impact with this process…

Environmental impact

Due to the copious amounts of electricity needed to extract aluminium from the earth’s crust, a large majority of this energy would have been produced by burning fossil fuels - one of the biggest contributors to global warming. In the US for example, half of the smelting energy consumed is thanks to coal. Burning coal emits greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, as well as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides - producing acid rain and respiratory illnesses. 

However, this is just one part of the problem with extracting aluminium. It is found that this process produces perfluorocarbons which are 9,200 times more harmful than carbon dioxide with their impact on global warming. Secondly, when Bauxite is extracted from the earth, the result of the strip-mining process removes all native vegetation in the region, resulting in a loss of habitat and food for local wildlife. 

The demand for aluminium will only continue to grow as predicted by Mining Weekly, with an estimate of 2.6% annual growth until 2029. As a result, the impact on the environment will continue unless renewable energy such as wind and solar are used to produce electricity.

Why recycle aluminium cans?

When we head to the supermarket and purchase cans of soup and drink, there is no second thought given to how these items are made. In the UK, 90% of all drinks cans sold every year are made of aluminium. So what if we all recycled our aluminium cans?

What is reassuring to know about this metal is that it is 100% recyclable. Therefore, this process can massively reduce the need to extract the raw materials, with recycling saving 95% of the energy needed for this process. Not only that, it also saves 97% of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the primary production process.

Within 60 days, used aluminium drink cans can be recycled and put back on the supermarket shelves! This greatly reduces the impact of extraction and importing the metal through recycling.

How to recycle aluminium

You can place your aluminium cans into an applicable recycling bin where the local council can send these off to the recycling plant. Alternatively, you can visit a scrap metal recycling centre such as ourselves, if you have a large quantity that you would like to dispose of, allowing the metal to be transformed into other goods. 

Consider Mellor Metals

If you have a large quantity of aluminium that you’d like to recycle, then please get in contact with us here at Mellor Metals and we will be happy to help you with any enquiries you have. We are a family-run, independent metal recycling company based in Attenborough, Norfolk. Find out more about us as a business here.

Get in touch with our knowledgeable team today.