Aluminium recycling is tremendously effective and beneficial to the environment. Indeed, It also requires 95 per cent less energy to recycle aluminium than it does to produce the metal from scratch – that’s a tremendous saving and one which can have a significant impact on the wider environment.
Unlike some other metals, aluminium doesn’t wear away in its lifetime. This means it can be continually recycled, potentially infinitely
How aluminium is actually recycled
The aluminium recycling process is fairly simple, and is as follows:
- The cans or tins are collected and taken to a treatment plant.
- Here, they are sorted and cleaned.
- The can is then melted down into molten aluminium, which removes any coatings and inks.
- This molten aluminium is set into large blocks called ingots, each of which contains around 1.6 million drink cans!
- The ingots are then sent to mills, where they get rolled out in order to give the aluminium flexibility and strength.
- This rolled-out aluminium is then made into cans, ready meal packaging, chocolate wrapping and a whole host of other products.
And then the whole process starts again