Aluminium facts
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.