Aluminium recycling has been undertaken in the UK for many years and a large proportion of the aluminium in the UK has already been recycled. Metals can be recycled indefinitely without losing any of their properties making them an ideal material for this process. Aluminium recycling can take on many forms including reuse as well as actual recycling.
Aluminium containers and foil can often be cleaned and reused in the home, reducing the amount of waste produced. Household items such as saucepans can be reused by donating them to charity or taking them to your local recycling centre from where they can be sold to a scrap metal merchant. Aluminium recycling is undertaken by local authorities to one degree or another. Drink cans are usually collected at kerbside and 75% of local councils now also collect aerosol cans. In addition, more and more waste collections can include foil products such as kitchen foil, milk bottle foil tops and freezing or cooking trays.
Aluminium recycling requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of the carbon dioxide emissions compared to primary production. In fact one kilogram of recycled aluminium saves up to 6 KGs of bauxite (the raw material from which aluminium is made), 4 KGs of chemical products as well as 14 KWs of electricity. One recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours!
As well as recycling aluminium at kerbside many community organisations collect cans for cash. You can your local projects by visiting www.alupro.org.uk, and Recycle More www.recycle-more.co.uk has details of your local authority collection centres.
For further information on Recycling click on the links below
