It takes 95% less energy to make aluminum from bauxite ore than to recycle old aluminum into new. It takes about 400 years for aluminum to break down naturally. That Coke can you just drank from will probably still look about the same in another century or two. Aluminum can be recycled over and over without breaking down. In theory, we have an inexhaustible supply of it in circulation right now. If we recycled all our aluminum, we’d never have to make more. Making aluminum from bauxite ore is a dirty process—and burning it is even worse. By doubling our aluminum recycling rate, we could cut a million tons of pollutants per year out of the atmosphere. Every part of the can is reusable—you don’t have to prepare it in any way, other than to rinse it out. In 1996, aluminum manufacturers saved enough energy by recycling aluminum instead of creating it from bauxite ore to power a city the size of Pittsburg for six years or so. Aluminum recycles in no time at all. When you send a can to a recycling depot, it’s processed, recycled, and back on the shelf again in about a month. The aluminum Americans throw away each year is enough to provide the auto industry with all the raw material it needs to build a year’s worth of new cars. The aluminum in one single soda can is worth about a cent. Americans threw away millions of cans last year. The American government could pay off a significant portion of its debt with a few years’ worth of aluminum cans. In 2004, Americans recycled enough aluminum to build thirteen aircraft carriers. Every three months, Americans discard enough aluminum to completely rebuild every single commercial airplane in America.

From professorshouse.com

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