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Aluminium - recycle, recycle, over and over again
Did you know?
- It’s estimated that about 75% of the aluminium made since 1886 is still in use today
- It takes approximately 5% of the energy to make a can from recycling that does to make it from raw materials
- Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours
- On average there is 3.6 billion cans produced for Australian consumption, at an average weight of 14 grams that equates to approximately 51 thousand tonnes. According to remelters and taking into account imports and exports we collected 33 thousand tonnes which then gives us a recycling rate around 64%
- Used aluminium cans are recycled and returned to a store shelf as a new can in as few as 60 days
- Alcoa’s Australia Rolled Products plant at Yennora is home to the largest aluminium recycling facility in Australia, responsible for recycling around half a billion cans each year as well as other aluminium products/scrap.
Aluminium is one of the world’s greatest recyclable materials and everyone can play a part by making sure you dispose of your rubbish correctly, in particular aluminium cans. For more information on recycling go to: http://www.alcoa.com/alcoa_recycling/en/home.asp
How recycling Aluminium works
External suppliers compact and sort the scrap aluminium to improve its density and reduce freight, storage and handling costs before delivery to the Yennora site.
Upon receipt at Yennora, the recycled aluminium is classified so the optimal end use and processing path can be determined.
If the aluminium to be recycled is un-coated (i.e. there is no paint or lacquer on the metal) it is loaded directly into a large furnace called a smelter where it is heated at high temperatures and turned into molten form.
If the aluminium to be recycled is coated it is processed through a gas fired rotary furnace to remove any coating and then transferred to the smelter.
Alloys are added to the smelters to suit the end purpose of the aluminium. The molten aluminium is then transferred into a holding furnace where the metal is tested and alloy levels adjusted before being cast into 10 tonne ingots.
The ingots are then transferred to the rolling mill to be rolled into sheet and sold to customers. Metal sourced from recycled cans requires only five percent of the energy needed to mine, refine and smelt primary aluminium however both processes produce identical ingots.
Recycling aluminium reduces industry requirements for natural resources and diverts waste from landfill.
Aluminium is endlessly recyclable, and it is estimated that nearly three-quarters of all aluminium ever made since 1886 remains in use today.
For information on our Yennora’s recycling facility go to: http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/alcoa_australia/location_overview/yennora.asp
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Download information on Recycling
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Information on the recycling process
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