The world produces and consumes an unimaginable amount of aluminum each year. Don’t believe it? Continue reading to learn the top aluminum can facts that will shock you so much, you will be motivated to start your own home or office recycling initiative right away!
Mining and Production of Aluminum Ore
Aluminum is a metal that is derived from the Earth’s crust. Aluminum metal is a silver-like in color, as well as, malleable, nonmagnetic, and ductile. These desirable properties provide a wide range of advantages for society, which in turn gives aluminum infinite applications in various industries all across the world, including manufacturing, construction, electronics, automotive, food and beverage, medical technology, art, and much more. In fact, it is hard to identify an industry that does not rely on aluminum metal in some form or another.
But did you know that the process of mining and producing aluminum takes more energy than any other metal? It’s true! The amount of energy used to produce just 4 cans of soda is hypothetically equal to filling up a single soda can with gasoline.
Here are some additional aluminum facts that will make you think twice before tossing your next soda can into the trash:
♻ Soda and Beer
Among all of society, an average of 200 billion aluminum cans are consumed in just soda and beer alone. This number breaks down to 6,700 cans per second! Another way to comprehend this gigantic value: hypothetically, we could wrap a single-file line of cans around the perimeter of the world every 17 hours.
♻ Energy Consumption
To produce 1 million tons of aluminum cans from natural materials, 5 million tons of bauxite ore is required. This has the energy equivalency of 32 million barrels of crude oil! In contrast, recycling aluminum cans saves all of our natural bauxite deposits, as well as, more than 75% of the energy. It also reduces nearly 75% of the related pollutant emissions.
♻ Aluminum Recycling
Aluminum cans are 100% recyclable and can be recycled, infinitely! In fact, nearly 75% of all the aluminum ever produced is still being used to this very day. An average of 105,800 aluminum cans are recycled every minute in the United States. In 2011 alone, enough aluminum was recycled to have produced 13 aircraft carriers!
Recycling just 1 aluminum can saves enough electricity to run a laptop computer for 4 hours or power your television for 1 hour. That is a lot of saved energy! If you recycle aluminum for just one year, it is virtually equivalent to 6 years of power!
Where to Recycle Aluminum
Don’t just stop at cans! Aluminum comes in all sorts of versions. From power tools and electronics, to junk cars, appliances, sheet metal, and more, aluminum can be recycled in any form or condition! All you have to do is contact a local and reputable Indianapolis metal recycling center to recycle your junk metal for cash on the spot! That’s right; recycling metal earns you instant cash!
Call Zore’s Recycling division at 317-244-0700 to recycle metal in Indianapolis, Indiana for cash. We have been a family owned and operated company for over 75 years, and continue to make customer satisfaction our number one goal in our metal recycling division. And to make recycling easier for you, we offer several customer conveniences at no extra charge! Request a free estimate, today.