Aluminium (or aluminum) is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery white, soft, ductile metal. (Source: Wikipedia)
In what products can we find aluminum?
- tin cans
- pans
- sinks
- jars
- aluminum foils
- chairs, etc.
Is aluminum biodegradable and recyclable?
Biodegradable, no. Recyclable, yes.
In fact, recycling aluminum can give great impacts in life, such as:
- Reducing air and water pollution.
Recycling aluminum gives us 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution compared to making aluminum from natural resources. - Saving energy.
Recycle one aluminum can and save electricity needed for operating TV for approximately 3 hours. - Creating jobs.
About 30,000 jobs have been created since 1970. In 1985, about 2 million aluminum can collectors earned more than $200 million by recycling. - Increasing productivity.
Recycling beverage cans allows industry to produce 20 times more cans using the same amount of energy.
Are there other interesting facts about aluminum?
As a matter of fact, yes.
- More than 120,000 aluminum cans are recycled in the US every minute.
- An average American family recycles 150 six packs of aluminum cans in a year.
- It's fast to recycle aluminum cans. The whole recycling process including collection, re-melting, rolling, manufacturing and distributing can be done in 90 days.
Happy recycling!
