Stay in the Know - Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Join a network of more than 90,000 waste and recycling industry professionals. Get the latest news and insights straight to your inbox. Free.
3 Min Read
BAUXITE ORE is mined and refined into alumina (aluminum oxide), a primary feedstock for aluminum metal. Scrap aluminum supplies one-third of America's total aluminum supply. Recycled aluminum cans supply more than one-fifth of the total aluminum scrap used as a raw material.
Twenty percent of the aluminum used in America goes into packaging. This is the second largest use for aluminum, trailing transportation products that use one-third of American's aluminum supply. Aluminum is the third most-used material in automobiles.
Aluminum packaging is produced in both rigid and foil forms. Rigid aluminum containers are used for beverage and food packaging. Aluminum cans account for all of the beverage can market, but only a small percentage of the food can market. Cans are 80 percent of aluminum packaging by weight.
Foil packaging is used as a wrapping foil, as semi-rigid packages such as pie plates and frozen food trays, and as flexible packaging such as cigarette foil and candy wrappers.
Aluminum packaging has never had more than 1 percent market share of generated municipal solid waste (MSW).
Chaz Miller is state programs director for the Environmental Industry Associations, Washington, D.C. E-mail the author at: [email protected]
Aluminum Packaging Municipal Solid Waste Facts:
Generated:
1.95 million tons or 0.8% by weight.*
1.57 million tons of cans per year.*
380,000 tons of foil per year.*
13.85 pounds (lbs.) per person per year.*
11.16 lbs. of cans and 2.69 lbs. of foil per person.*
100.3 billion cans or 352 cans per person.
1 can weighs less than 0.03 lbs.
Recycled:
870,000 tons or 44.6%.*
830,000 tons or 54.6% for cans.*
40,000 tons or 10.5% for foil.*
55.4% can recycling rate in 2001 (industry data).
Recycled Content:
51% for cans in 2000 (industry data).
Incinerated or Landfilled:
1.08 million tons or 0.7% of discarded MSW.*
740,000 tons of cans and 340,000 tons of foil.*
Aluminum is noncombustible and can create residue in incinerator ash.
Landfill Volume:
6.5 million cubic yards or 1.6% of landfilled MSW in 1997.
5.3 million cubic yards of cans and 1.2 million cubic yards of foil in 1997.
Density:
Landfilled cans weigh 250 lbs. per cubic yard (lbs./cu. yd).*
Landfilled foil weighs 550 lbs./cu. yd.*
Loose cans have a density of 50 lbs./cu. yd. to 74 lbs./cu. yd.
Flattened cans have a density of 250 lbs./cu. yd.
Source Reduction:
In 1972, 21.75 cans weighed 1 lb.
In 2001, 33.4 cans weighed 1 lb.
Recycling Markets:
Aluminum can sheet manufacturers are the primary market for used aluminum cans. Foil usually is bought by the same markets.
End-Market Specifications:
ISRI Guidelines for Nonferrous Scrap: NF-2002. “Old can stock” specs include nonbeverage cans. “Shredded”, “densified,” “baled” and “briquetted” specs exclude nonbeverage cans.
Contaminants include dirt, moisture, plastic, glass and other metals. Lead is a particular problem. While a magnet can separate steel cans from aluminum cans, other contaminants are difficult to spot. Foil and cans will contaminate each other in the recycling process.
Sources:
Aluminum Association, Washington, D.C. www.aluminum.org
“Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2000 Update,” EPA Office of Solid Waste, 2002. www.epa.gov
“Measurement Standards and Reporting Guidelines,” National Recycling Coalition, Alexandria, Va. www.nrc-recycle.org
“Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 1998,” EPA Office of Solid Waste, 2000. www.epa.gov
Scrap Specifications Circular 2002, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, D.C. www.isri.org
*2000 EPA estimates.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like
Top Stories
