Facts about Aluminium & Recycling
 

• In 1996, over 60% of all drinks cans sold were made of aluminium
• In 1996, recyclers were paid over £10 million for the aluminium cans they collected
• In the UK in 1996 around 5.2 billion aluminium drinks cans were sold - if they were all collected for recycling over £42 million would have been paid to collectors
• In 1997, over 4.6 billion cans were sold around the world!
• If all of the aluminium cans recycled in the UK in 1990 were laid end to end they would stretch from Land's End to John O'Groats 160 times, with some to spare!
• The alu-can accounts for 2% by weight but 50% by value of materials collected for recycling. It has the highest value of any recyclable packaging material

Thanks to Alucan for giving permission to use information from their web-site:

http://www.alucan.org.uk/

The Alucan site has details of recycling schemes throughout the UK as well as loads of information about aluminium and recycling projects.

• Aluminium cans cool quicker than any other drinks package, allowing bars, hotels etc. to serve cold, fresh drinks sooner
• The aluminium industry has invested over £60 million in the development of alu-can recycling over the past eight years
• In 1989 only 2% of aluminium cans consumed in the UK were recycled - today over 31% are recycled
• Children and their parents are especially aware that money can be made from aluminium can 'empties' and are the most active recyclers
• Industry demand for recycled alu-cans will always be strong and, whenever possible, industry operates 'closed loop' recycling, ie. turning used aluminium cans into new can sheet

Q. How do I identify alu-cans from other cans? 

A. One of three ways:

1. look for the alu symbol on the side of the can,
2. they do not stick to magnets
3. they have shiny bases.

CAN~CAN Home Page

CAN~CAN Recycling

Q: What about Aluminium foil?

A: Clean aluminium cooking foil can be recycled - but must be kept separate. Foil has a different composition from aluminium cans and so needs to be recycled separately.

For more information about aluminium foil see:

http://www.alufoil.co.uk

Email CAN~CAN  for more information or if you would like to help

Where does aluminium come from?

Aluminium is the third most abundant element found in the earth's crust, after oxygen and silicon. Sir Humphrey Davy established the existence of aluminium in 1807. However, at this time it was so difficult to extract that aluminium was considered a semi-precious metal - so rare and expensive that Emperor Napoleon had a dinner service made from it!

It wasn't until 1886 that an economically viable process was developed to extract aluminium, independently achieved by both Charles Martin Hall and Paul L T Heroult.

A naturally occuring ore called bauxite is mined using an open cast method with large mechanical diggers. The bauxite is then processed chemically to produce aluminium oxide. Smelting electrolysis is then employed to form molten aluminium, which is moulded to create large ingots of solid aluminium.

Processing aluminium from primary sources

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THE CAN~CAN COMPANY
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