It’s often far easier to simply throw away any unwanted cans or metal-based waste but there are a wide range of reasons why we should look at recycling our metal waste.
Reducing emissions
Did you know that in order to turn recycled aluminium into other products, the process uses just 5% of the emissions needed to make aluminium from scratch? Carbon dioxide emissions for example are huge when transforming the amount of thermite needed to make a sufficient amount of aluminium. Recycling 1 tonne of aluminium saves 9 tonnes of Co2 which would otherwise be pumped into our atmosphere. What’s more, globally only around 50% of the world’s drinks cans are recycled, but by recycling just 1 kg of aluminium, it saves a massive 14kgs of chemical products
Preserving precious resources
The main ingredient in the aluminium process is bauxite. It’s found naturally in a belt around the equator. Statistics show that there are around 29 billion tonnes of bauxite and while this sounds a lot, at the current rate of extraction we have sufficient materials to last just 100 years. By recycling aluminium cans and other products it prolongs precious bauxite resources.
Managing energy consumption
In addition to saving emissions and precious natural resources we can also reduce energy consumption. Did you know for example that recycling just 1kg of aluminium saves around 14kw of power. That’s enough to run a ducted air conditioning system for a large three bedroomed house. In addition it’s possible to recycle and remake 20 drinks cans using the same amount of energy as it is to make just 1 new one from scratch.
Economic development
On average it costs twice as much money to make aluminium from scratch as it does to recycle. This is cash that the government could plough back into the economy making it better for all. This might be through providing businesses with better loans so that they can grow, and as they do it will create more jobs.
Price reductions
By recycling your aluminium and other metals it could actually put money back into your pocket. If more metal was recycled, then costs would come down. Canned foods, cars, computers, or any metal based product for that matter would cost less, ultimately saving you money.
Here at Metro Steel we take out social responsibilities very seriously and in our fabrication shop we use recycled pre-formed metal which we then process to produce a wide variety of metal products. If you have a project in mind and would like a free no obligation quote, contact us today on 07 3204 1000.