The recycling of aluminium beverage cans eliminates waste. It saves energy, conserves natural resources, reduces use of city landfills and provides added revenue for recyclers, charities and local town government. The aluminium can is therefore good news for the environment and good for the economy. Cans made from aluminium are worth 6 to 20 times more than any other used packaging material. Aluminium is the only packaging material that more than covers the cost of its own collection and processing at recycling centres.
Pilot schemes exist in several countries for recycling aluminium foil from packaging materials.
The aluminium industry is working with automobile makers to enable cars with aluminium components to be easily dismantled and the scrap sorted and re-used for identical new parts. In most other recycling schemes scrap material is rarely re-used for the same application it has to be downgraded to an application requiring lesser metallic properties. Recycling rates for building and transport applications range from 60 to 90 per cent in various countries. The metal is re-used in high quality applications. For more information about the aluminium recycling process and how you can help visit our recycled production page .