So it’s no wonder that the industry wants the metal back: the more recycling there is, the less primary metal needs to be produced, the less energy is used  -  and fewer carbon gases emitted.

Because recycled aluminium is as good as new, it retains a high scrap value, ensuring that the sort of larger items recovered from the building and automotive industries are recycled for their value, as well as environmental benefits..  

• More than 75% of all the aluminium ever made is still in use around the world

• Recycling is 20 times more energy efficient than primary production

• Recycling a tonne of aluminium saves 9 tonnes of carbon equivalent gases

Aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust after oxygen and silicon, and the most common metallic element:  it forms some 8% of the earth’s crust, and is extracted from bauxite.

Pure aluminium is a relatively soft, ductile metal, which can be alloyed with small quantities of other metals and elements to extend its properties, while not losing its most important qualities  -  lightness and strength.

It has a low density compared to other metals:  about  a third the density of iron and steel, less than a third that of copper, and a quarter that of lead and silver.

Aluminium is easily formed:  it can be drawn into thin wire and rolled into sheet to make airliners, or coils to make drinks cans or foil.   It can also be cast in molds for engine components, and extruded into complex shapes such as window frames.

It is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and has a relatively low melting point
(660 ºC).  And it is corrosion-resistant, due to a thin, but tough, film of oxide that forms on its surface when exposed to the atmosphere.

Because aluminium is so easily recycled, its products  -  whether airliners, trains, window frames of drinks cans  -  provide metal for the next generation of strong, lightweight items we use every day.