Aluminum recycling tips from ablison.com? Aluminum Thrown Away and Never Recycled: We may be recycling more aluminum every year, but things could still be a lot better. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, Americans throw away so much aluminum that every three months we could collect enough scrap to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial airplane fleet from the ground up. That’s a lot of wasted aluminum. Globally, more than half of all the aluminum cans produced and sold every year are thrown away and never recycled, which means they have to be replaced by new cans made from virgin materials.
The main challenge to recycling aluminum foil is that it is often contaminated with food waste. Grease and oils can damage recycling equipment and create an inferior end product, so food-affected waste has to be thrown away (all that food will also cause the foil to smell really bad, which will make the staff at your local recycling center very unhappy). Some communities accept aluminum foil in their recycling bins as long as it is clean. Others are not willing to take that risk. We have some advice for dedicated recyclers who really want to keep their aluminum foil out of landfills. We also share a couple of ways to decrease your use of aluminum foil.
Can I recycle aluminum foil for money? No. Even though it’s made from the same material as aluminum cans, which is one of the easiest materials to recycle for money, aluminum foil is too often used for food storage and not worth recyclers paying for it. Even if you find a company willing to recycle it for money, aluminum foil is so light that you’d have to collect a huge quantity to receive anything more than a few dollars. Read more information at is tin foil recyclable.
Aluminum itself is one of the most recyclable — and indeed, one of the most recycled — materials around. According to the Aluminum Association, nearly 75 percent of all the aluminum produced in the US is still in use today, thanks to recycling efforts and the fact that it can be recycled again and again without its quality diminishing. If you’re not ready yet to relegate aluminum foil to the recycling bin or the trash can, you might be able to give clean pieces another life — there are other uses for aluminum foil besides wrapping up leftovers.
Aluminum is commonly used in packaging. In fact, this ubiquitous material comprises 99 percent of all beer cans and 97 percent of all soft drink cans. These containers contribute to the 3.4 million tons of aluminum that enter the municipal solid waste stream every year. Fortunately, aluminum is easy to recycle and a beverage can might even find a new life as an aircraft or automotive part. Recycling aluminum also offers several other benefits. Find more details on https://www.ablison.com/how-to-recycle-aluminum-foil-and-is-it-biodegradable/.