What happens if aluminum is not recycled

Aluminum producers and recyclers in the aluminum industry work with individuals, communities and businesses to enable both curbside and industrial recycling programs. UBC used beverage container recycling is the most readily recognized of the recycling programs. Aluminum is also recycled at the end of life from products such as cars and building parts. Window frames, wire, tubing and electronics are additional examples of aluminum that is recycled at the end of life.

Aluminum is recycled through a variety of programs. The most commonly recognized consumer programs are curbside and municipal. In these programs, items like beverage cans, aluminum foil, aluminum baking trays and pie pans are recycled. The aluminum industry actively supports the Recycling Partnership , which is a program dedicated to increasing participation in curbside recycling programs and to measure this growth using solid data. Within the industry, building and automotive parts are collected for recycling.

More than 90 percent of the aluminum in building and automotive parts is recycled at the end of use. All of these items serve as a feedstock and are sent to aluminum recyclers to be melted down in the secondary production process. Aluminum is one of the most recycled -- and most recyclable -- materials on the market today.

As an infinitely recyclable metal, aluminum is a poster child for shifting from a linear take-make-waste model of industrial production to a circular model in which everything, at the end of its useful life, is made into something else. But Novelis is having trouble finding followers. So far, the product has just one customer: Red Hare Brewing Co. Recently, I traveled to Germany to tour the Novelis recycling plant and lead a forum with experts on the circular economy.

At the Nachterstedt plant, bales of crushed cans trucked in from all over Central and Eastern Europe, dirtied with paints and coatings, go into one end. The scrap is then shredded into little pieces, purified, melted down and cast into ton ingots. These ingots are then shipped to a nearby plant and rolled into sheets. Some are sold to big global packaging companies, such as Rexam and Ball, which manufacture cans to meet the specifications set by the beverage brands.

Others go to the auto and electronics industries. Driven largely by fuel-efficiency regulations, automakers including Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Audi and BMW are all substituting lighter-weight aluminum for steel.

Many aluminum customers — notably Ford — are also becoming suppliers, selling the scrap left over from manufacturing back to Novelis for reprocessing.

You can see the circular economy taking hold. Humans are far from perfect, and while some of the new aluminum cans will get recycled, others could easily end up in the trash. What if instead of buying either a plastic bottle or aluminum can to quench our thirst, we took a trip to the water fountain or refilled a reusable thermos? The added cost of aluminum might have made more sense for pricier drinks like beer and soda that could also benefit from the added shelf life that canning provides.

But the use of aluminum for beverage packaging has been on the decline as people started to turn to less sugary drinks over soda. Uday Patel, senior research manager at Wood Mackenzie, tells The Verge that this trend could change as a result of the bad reputation that plastic bottles seem to be getting. The following year, the company said that it reduced emissions from aluminum in its products by 45 percent.

There may be added emissions from transportation, for example, that come from sourcing recycled aluminum. Lepawsky also points to a phenomenon called the Jevons paradox. In the 19th century, William Jevons found that increased efficiency in using coal for energy led to using more coal, not less of it. The same could happen for aluminum as its popularity rises, leading to not only more aluminum waste but potentially more mining for its raw materials as well.

Do you recycle your aluminum foil, or have you found other uses for it? Share your tips in the comments below. RTS Recyclebank partners with cities and brands to reward residents for helping to make their communities cleaner, greener places. Join Us Sign In. Forgot Your Password? Sign In with Facebook. Almost done! Send me new rewards, ways to earn points, and info about my recycling as it happens. Just get in touch with me once a month. I have read and agree to the terms and Privacy Policy.

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