Cyclical Nature of Aluminum

In case you didn’t know, aluminum can be recycled over and over again due to the nature of its atomic structure. The life cycle of aluminum does not adhere to the “cradle-to-grave” pattern that is typical of many other materials. “Cradle-to-grave” is a term that describes the life of a product from its beginning up until the point that the product is discarded or can no longer be used for another purpose. Conversely, aluminum follows the “cradle-to-cradle” design whereby a product is created and has the composition to be used endlessly in the future. This feature of aluminum lends itself to significant energy savings given that re-melting aluminum takes a mere 5% of the power necessary in primary production of virgin aluminum. Less demand for energy results in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The aluminum industry boasts that the global energy savings each year from recycling aluminum is in the ballpark of 215,000 gigawatt hours- equal to the total annual electricity used in all of Australia! Keep your aluminum in the cycle by recycling those cans!