It may seem counter-intuitive that aluminium could be such an environmentally friendly substance, but when recycled, as much as 95% of the energy spent on “virgin ore” is saved. This is significant. Not only is less energy used to get it, but less polluting substances are expelled while processing the ore. Less energy is required to melt recycled aluminium chips.
A significant portion of the aluminium cans are recycled, but even with these benefits, it remains cheaper for aluminium manufacturers in some areas to use new ore due to the high cost of sorting and treating the cans prior to the actual processing operations.
For the post-consumer aluminium that is recycled, it’s shredded into little bits and treated to remove inks that make recycling difficult. About 15% of the weight of the aluminium is lost in the process as ash, but the remaining portion can be processed like that indefinitely without degradation in any of its properties.
