The Cost to Recycle Aluminum Vs. Plastic
Recycling is good for the environment because it saves energy needed to produce new products and reduces landfill space. The benefits from recycling vary for different products and depend on the costs of recycling and the demand for recycled products.
Other People Are Reading
-
Recycled Products
-
Recycled aluminum is primarily made into new aluminum cans and can be recycled indefinitely, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Recycled plastics are made into a variety of products including textiles, carpets and bottles.
Product Demand
-
The price of recycled aluminum is relatively high and there is a lot of demand for it, although the demand has been declining due to the replacement of aluminum containers with plastics. There is greater demand for recycled plastic than the amount produced.
-
Energy Cost Savings
-
Aluminum recycling saves 95 percent of the energy that is needed to produce aluminum from ore, so it is considerably less expensive to recycle it, according to The Aluminum Association. Plastics recycling saves up to 90 percent of the energy that is needed to produce new plastic, according to the EPA.
Processing Costs
-
There are many different types of plastics, and they must be separated before they are recycled, which is difficult and involves high costs, according to the EPA. The price of manually sorting plastics can make it cost prohibitive. Aluminum cans, which make up the largest amount of recycled aluminum, do not require processing and can be recycled whole.
Amount Recycled
-
Many types of plastics are not easy to recycle because it is difficult to form a new product from them. Recycled plastics represented only about 7 percent of plastics disposed of in 2008, and recycled aluminum represented about 21 percent of aluminum disposed of in 2008.
-
References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Nicole Makauskas
