Source: International Aluminium Institute
The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) Chairman and Hydro CEO Svein Richard Brandtzaeg recently welcomed the launch of a website highlighting the recycling advantages of aluminium products. Recognising the demand from customers, consumers and policymakers around the world for up-to-date and easy to access information, the IAI has developed the site to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental benefits and the future potential of aluminium recycling.
This green living website features interactive content, based on the IAI’s long-running “mass flow” research and extensive statistical database, as well as recycling success stories from around the world.
The site also provides data on recycling rates and energy and emissions savings; measures that are central to the aluminium industry’s sustainability strategy of reducing the environmental impact of its facilities, increasing the use of aluminium in energy saving applications and maximising the recycling of products at the end of their useful life.
The recycling website follows on from the success of the IAI’s recent green building and transport websites, which have proved popular with architects, car manufacturers, policymakers and academics, who are looking for quantitative data and real life examples of aluminium use in sustainable products.
Commenting on the website, Mr. Brandtzaeg said “The Aluminium for Future Generations website is a fantastic resource for everyone involved in the recycling process…and in a sustainable world, that is all of us: individuals and governments, aluminium producers and customers, waste management companies and municipalities. The fact that, at the end of its life, an aluminium product is 100% recyclable and still has a very high value, has led to high recycling rates globally and the potential for even greater material, energy and emissions savings into the future.”
Launching the website Marlen Bertram, Deputy Secretary General of IAI, said “We are pleased to be able to launch this site at the International Aluminium Recycling Congress hosted by the Organisation of the European Aluminium Recycling Industry, whose members are ensuring that as much of this valuable metal as possible is recovered and recycled back in to use as part of the trains we take to school, the buildings in which we live, the laptops we use, the cables powering our homes and the packaging protecting the food we eat.”
The website has been created by Interstruct Berlin (www.interstruct.com) for the International Aluminium Institute, in cooperation with the Organisation of the European Aluminium Recycling Industry (OEA) and other national and regional aluminium associations around the world.
Here are some other cool green facts about aluminum:
• Aluminium is infinitely recyclable – approximately 75% of all aluminium ever produced since 1888 (around 1 billion tonnes) is still in productive use, some having been through countless loops of its lifecycle.
• Globally, the recycling of aluminium saves over 90 million tonnes of CO2 annually and over 100,000 GWh of electrical energy, equivalent to the annual power consumption of the Netherlands.
• Aluminium recycling requires up to 95% less energy than primary aluminium production.
• Aluminium’s economic scrap value and ability to be recycled continuously makes the aluminium beverage can the most recycled container in the world with an average recycling rate of 60% and over 90% in some countries.
• Globally, aluminium achieves among the highest material recycling rates, with up to 90% for transport and construction applications.
• Aluminium can be recycled over and over again without any loss of quality
