Recycling of aluminium

It is a fact that the material of aluminium makes a substantial contribution to satisfying our basic human needs such as mobility, safety, good nutrition, good dwelling and good medical care. However, it also offers us ecological advantages which are of great benefit to us and our environment.

Aluminium is characterised, for example, by excellent recycling properties. 35% of the world's aluminium requirements is already met from secondary aluminium gained from the remelting of old and new scrap metal. The energy requirements for the remelting is 95% lower than the effort required for the winning of new aluminium (primary aluminium).

When manufacturing aluminium products, it makes no difference to the quality whether primary or secondary aluminium is used as the raw material. When properly treated, aluminium can be re-used as often as required without any loss in quality. The high value of the metal is maintained and provides the economic impetus at the end of its service life to collect the metal, treat it, melt it and utilise it again in the same way or in a comparable way.

The increasing trend in recycled aluminium used for production purposes is also interesting here: for instance, in 1999, 1.15 million tonnes of aluminium was recycled in Germany – 45% from secondary aluminium. The equivalent figures for 2003 were 1.34 million tonnes and 51%. The amount of secondary aluminium in use is therefore growing all the time.

The traffic sector is the one where most of the aluminium used is currently recycled, namely 90%; the construction sector recycles 85% and the packing industry 72%. The recycling of aluminium offers both high economic benefits and ecological advantages since it helps save resources, reduce encroachments into nature and keep down the load on landfill sites.

Aluminium recycling is also a significant factor in social questions: for instance, the recycling of aluminium provides around 20,000 jobs in Germany.


Overview