Benefits of Aluminum Recycling

Aluminum can recycling provides many environmental, economic and community benefits to individuals, communities, organizations, companies and industries.

Environmental Benefits

• Recycling aluminum cans saves precious natural resources, energy, time and money – all for a good cause – helping out the earth, as well as the economy and local communities.
• Aluminum cans are unique in that in 60 days a can is recycled, turned into a new can & back on store shelves.
• Aluminum is a sustainable metal and can be recycled over and over again.
• In 2003, 54 billion cans were recycled, saving the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil – America’s entire gas consumption for one day.
• Find out more about the environmental benefits.

Economic Benefits

• The aluminum can is the most valuable container to recycle and is the most recycled consumer product in the U.S. today.
• Each year, the aluminum industry pays out over $800 million dollars for empty aluminum cans – that’s a lot of money that can go to organizations, like Habitat for Humanity, the Boy or Girl Scouts of America, or even a local school. Money earned from recycling cans helps people help themselves and their communities. Recycling helps build new homes, pays for a group trip, supports a project or buys a lunch!
• Today it is cheaper, faster and more energy-efficient to recycle aluminum than ever before. The aluminum can is 100 percent recyclable and can be recycled indefinitely. The can remains the most recyclable of all materials.
• Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.
• Aluminum has a high market value and continues to provide an economic incentive to recycle. When aluminum cans are recycled curbside, they help pay for community services.

Community Benefits

• Aluminum can recycling enables charitable organizations and groups to earn funds to further local projects. The money earned enhances programs, communities and improves the quality of people’s lives. From a local can drive to raise money for school improvements, to a Boy or Girl Scout troop “Cans Into Cash” competition to pay for camp, recycling is used all over the country to help others.
• A perfect example of this is the Cans for Habitat program. Through a national partnership between the Aluminum Association and Habitat for Humanity International, aluminum cans are recycled via a network of drop-off locations to raise money for Habitat for Humanity to build decent, affordable housing with low-income families. To think, just by recycling a can once destined for the landfill, you are keeping our local environment clean, providing a needed resource for the aluminum recycling process, and most importantly, helping provide local housing to those in need. It’s a win-win for the individual, community, business, industry and the environment.