Why Recycling Aluminum is Important

One of the most common metals seen in Massachusetts is aluminum. Whether it’s your daily can of soda, the pots and pans you use in your house, or part of your electronic devices, it’s nearly impossible not to come in contact with this metal in your day to day life.  Being so common, aluminum is also one of the most heavily recycled metals in the US as well. However, it has been stated, by the EPA, that we only recycle about 50% of all cans sold.

In the past (up until 1886) creating aluminum used to be a tough process and very costly. After the discovery of a much cheaper way to produce aluminum, the use of aluminum became much more widespread. While this is great production wise, unfortunately this process releases a lot of carbon dioxide into the environment (1 ton for every same weight of aluminum produced) and can take its toll on the environment.

Help reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The good news is that recycling aluminum only releases a fraction of carbon dioxide compared to amount created when making it from the scratch. Just one of the many reasons it is important to recycle your junk aluminum as much as possible. Recycling aluminum can not only make you a little extra cash, it can save a lot of energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by a considerable amount. Recycling your aluminum with a trusted metal scrapper is a huge leap you can take in order to help out the environment and put less of a strain on Mother Nature.

Help saving energy      
Current methods to create aluminum (refining it from bauxite, an ore) use a lot of energy as well. According to the Aluminum Association, recycling just a single can saves enough energy to power a television for a few hours. So save up those cans and don’t just toss them, do your part and recycle. 

Help lowering waste
Americans throw away about 3 million tons of aluminum each year instead of recycling it. Aluminum can be recycled many times and reused (giving aluminum a high value as scrap) and is more cost effective to scrap than any other metal. The more aluminum that is recycled, the fewer manufacturers will need to produce it, resulting in less mining of bauxite. So in the long run, more aluminum recycled equals less waste, and less environmental impact via mining for essential ores that are key in producing aluminum.     

By
Dane D.