Why Is It Important to Recycle Cans?
Approximately 400,000 aluminum cans are produced every minute, according to Project Green Planet. Aluminum can be recycled an infinite number of times. An aluminum can recycled today will be back on the shelf in only 90 days, according to the Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, website. It takes half a gallon of gasoline to produce one aluminum can.
Other People Are Reading
-
Benefits
-
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours, according to Recycling-revolution.com. In 2003, 54 billion aluminum cans were recycled, saving 15 billion barrels of crude oil, equivalent to America's gas use for one day. Thirty-five billion aluminum cans are thrown away each year in the United States. If all the aluminum cans thrown away were recycled, we would save the energy equivalent to 150 Exxon Valdez oil spills each year.
Recycling aluminum cans saves 95 percent of the energy needed to manufacture raw aluminum cans from bauxite ore. Recycling a six-pack of aluminum cans saves enough energy to drive a car five miles, according to Bringrecycling.org.
Warning
-
Aluminum is not biodegradable, according to the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Small amounts of aluminum in landfills typically dissolve and end up in lakes, streams and rivers. Some of this aluminum is also taken up by plants from the soil. Aluminum cans take 400 years to break down when left in a landfill, according to Project Green Planet.
-
Considerations
-
In one year, 36 billion aluminum cans, with scrap value of $600 million, are dumped into landfills, according to Lehigh County. Over the past two decades, more than 11 million tons of aluminum cans, with a scrap value of $12 billion, have been thrown away. Recycling aluminum cans saves money and energy.
Misconceptions
-
Aluminum cans are not the only type of aluminum that can be recycled, according to Lehigh County. Other types of aluminum products that can be recycled include siding, gutters, storm window frames, lawn furniture, foil and aluminum packaging.
Function
-
Many supermarkets have glass and aluminum recycling machines that give you a cash refund for recycling a can. Some charities and organizations use aluminum can fund-raising to fund events and projects. Aluminum can fund-raising is great for kids, because they don't have to go door to door asking for money from strangers, according to Fundraiserinsight.org.
Fun Fact
-
Over 50 percent of the aluminum cans produced are recycled, according to Earth911.com.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Aluminum cans on end image by Jeffrey Studio from Fotolia.com
