DON'T CAN YOUR ALUMINUM CAN
When you toss out
one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you'd filled the same can half full
of gasoline and poured it onto the ground.
BACKGROUND
Aluminum is the most
abundant metal on earth, but it was only discovered in the 1820s. At that time
it was worth $1,200 a kilogram, more than gold. According to World watch
Institute: "Since its first use as a toy rattle for Napoleon's son,
aluminum's use has escalated. The first aluminum beverage can appeared in 1963,
and today accounts for the largest single use of aluminum.... In 1985 more than
70 billion beverage cans were used, of which almost 66 billion‑or 940/6‑were
aluminum."
YES YOU CAN‑CAN
If you throw an
aluminum can out of your car window, it will still
litter the Earth up to 500
years later.
If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste
more energy than is used daily by each of a billion human beings in poorer
lands.
According to the Aluminum Association,
Americans recycled 42.5 billion aluminum cans in 1988.
In 1988 alone, aluminum can recycling saved
more than 11 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to supply the
residential electric needs of
The energy saved from one recycled aluminum can
will operate a television set for three hours.
Recycling aluminum cuts related air
pollution by 95%.
Making aluminum from recycled aluminum uses
90% less energy than making aluminum from scratch.
SIMPLE THINGS TO DO
Because recycling aluminum is so profitable
for manufacturing companies (they make $2 million every day from recycling),
there probably are more different ways to recycle aluminum than any other
material. Check to see which programs exist in your area:
Multi‑material drop‑off centers
with separate bins for aluminum.
Buy‑back
operations with scales to weigh recycled aluminum and pay consumers
accordingly.
Large, igloo‑like containers for
aluminum only, often found in supermarket parking lots.
Curbside pickup.
Reverse vending machines. These machines
accept aluminum cans, reject ferrous cans, glass, or
other unwanted objects. They weigh or count the aluminum deposited and dispense
money or tokens in payment.
Before You Recycle Your Aluminum:
Remove food, rinse, crush, and bag or box
cans.
Remember: a lot more than cans
can be recycled, including aluminum foil, pie plates, frozen food trays,
window frames, and siding.
RESULTS
According
to Recycle America’s statistics: If only 250 people (including you, of course)
each recycled one can a day, we would save the energy equivalent of 1,750‑3,500
gallons of gasoline every year. Now try that calculation with 250,000
people; just one can a day could save the energy equivalent of between 1.75 and
3.5 million gallons of gas. And that's only .1% of the
If we recycle, we mine less
raw materials. To produce one ton of aluminum from raw materials, it takes a
phenomenal 8,760 pounds of bauxite and 1,020 pounds of petroleum coke. But
according to Aluminum Association estimates, this figure is cut down by 95%
when recycled aluminum is used.
SOURCES
The Aluminum
Association,
D.C. 20006. They've
got lots of info on how torecycle, how to set up
fundraising events, stats, etc.
Most of it's free.