ALUMINIUM FACTS
- Recycling an aluminium can takes only five per cent of the energy needed to make a new one
- There is plenty of aluminium in the earth’s crust – it’s the third most abundant metal – but it’s so expensive to extract that using recycled aluminium is cheaper.
- Extracting aluminium uses a process called electrolysis which uses large amounts of electricity running up big bills
- It takes just two months to turn a used aluminium can into a new can and get the new can back on the shelf in a shop
- Aluminium can be recycled over and over again and still be as good as new
- Aluminium is not magnetic so it’s easy to separate from steel which is magnetic
- Aluminium needs to be crushed and baled with machinery before it can be recycled
- An average of 113,200 aluminium cans are recycled around the world every minute
- Aluminum is one of the metals used to build New York’s Empire State Building
- Cars, bicycles, aeroplanes and buildings are all made partly from aluminium because it is both strong and lightweight.
- Recycling centres such as Crow make money by selling crushed and baled used aluminium to recycling plants.
- The price changes depending on global demand for aluminium. Sometimes it drops so low it isn’t worth selling any until the price goes up again.
