All about aluminium recycling
Aluminium is one heck of a metal.
It’s strong, light, durable and pliable. It can be used for so many products, big or small.
Aluminium is also sustainable. It can be recycled after use without losing any of its qualities. It can then be used to make new products. And then recycled and reused again, and again and again... you get the picture.
History of aluminium
Did you know - no one had even heard of aluminium 200 years ago. Seems hard to believe given it’s found everywhere nowadays. From drink cans to planes, cutlery to window frames.
Aluminium is one of the most common elements found in the earth’s crust. It starts life as the raw material, bauxite ore, which contains about 15-25% aluminium. To draw out the aluminium, the ore is melted down and an electric current is sent shooting through it to separate the oxygen from the metal.
It takes 4 tonnes of bauxite to produce 1 tonne of aluminium. It’s a super expensive process.
On the other hand, recycling aluminium uses a fraction of the energy it takes to produce the primary (new) metal. That’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing almost one million vehicles off the road for an entire year.
About 10% of Australia’s electricity goes into making brand new aluminium. Using recycled cans to make new aluminium saves a huge amount of energy.
In fact, for every aluminium can you recycle, you save enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours! Suez.com.au
So, next time you stay in to binge watch the latest Netflix series and have a few tinnies, remember to recycle those cans to help save the planet.
No wonder they say recycling aluminium is the duck’s nuts!
What a waste
As aluminium is the most recyclable material, the metals recycling industry works closely with state and territory governments to recover as much aluminium as possible from our trash.
Aussies throw away more than 40% of empty cans every year. Ouch.
That’s not only a lot of waste – it’s a waste of money.
On the upside…
… two billion aluminium cans are recycled every year in Australia.
Most people in Australia have access to kerbside recycling collection so there should be no excuses.
The Aluminium Association estimate that 75% of all aluminium ever created is still in use today. Now that’s a win!
Aluminium recycling
There are two types of aluminium recycling:
New aluminium scrap
Roughly 100% of new aluminium, like leftovers from manufacturing and fabrication processes, can be recycled.Old aluminium scrap
75% of old aluminium, from end of use products like packaging, engineering, building, etc., can be recycled
But, there’s a far bigger supply of recycled aluminium than is currently used. Because of that, a massive amount is exported to China.
Perhaps it’s time for Australian’s to start demanding more products are made from recycled aluminium instead of using so much of our natural resources creating new aluminium.
What are the benefits of aluminium recycling?
The biggest benefit of recycling aluminium is that it can be recycled unlimited times. It can be reused tons of times over decades.
Every time it’s melted down and reformed it still stays just as strong. And remains a high-quality metal. It’s alleged that around three quarters of all aluminium produced since the material came to fame in the late 1800’s, is still in use today! That’s pretty good going.
Aluminium recycling is extremely energy efficient. Recycling not only saves tonnes of CO2 emissions being released into the environment, it also helps stop the destructive mining of new bauxite ore.
Scrap cans
In Australia, over three billion aluminium food and drink cans are sold every year. If you imagine all these cans being recycled again and again, it’s easy to see just how much energy and raw materials could be saved.
The entire recycling process for aluminium cans, from being thrown into the recycle bin to being sent back to the shops and supermarkets ready for re-sale takes as little as six weeks. That means that every aluminium can could be recycled eight times in one year. That saves enough energy to manufacture more than 150 new aluminium cans.
Aluminium scrap value
Aluminium scrap is sought after. It usually has a good value for scrap metal dealers and is paid for by the kg or tonne for any aluminium-based items. As with all scrap metals, the value of aluminium can change on a daily basis depending on shifts in the global market.
At Chilcorp we’re always happy to tell you the prices over the telephone.
Recycle your aluminium
There are a bunch of ways you can recycle aluminium:
Recycling bin for kerbside collection
Collect it up and bring into us.
For large quantities of scrap metals, we offer a collection service
Victoria plans to have a container deposit scheme by 2022/23.
Whether you’re a tradie, homeowner or metal dealer, do your bit and recycle your aluminium to make a positive impact on the environment.
Contact us
At Chilcorp, we always give you the most up-to-date prices for aluminium.
Give our experienced and friendly team a call and we’ll make sure you get the best price for your scrap metals.
We use the latest processing technology to dispose of and recycle your materials. All you have to think about is receiving payment for your scrap.
Cha-ching cha-ching!