Aluminum recycling is an activity that reflects the circular economy

When it comes to circular economy and, specifically, recycling of the materials we use, the circularity gradient of each single family of raw materials must be taken into consideration.

Glass, plastic, paper, metals, wood, rubber, waste building materials, and many other products have a reuse cycle which depends on the physico-chemical characteristics that constitute it.

There are those who can be reused continuously and infinitely, such as aluminum, and there are those who have recycling cycles more or less predetermined, after which, the raw material degrades and no longer allows its transformation into new products.

Aluminum is fully part of those noble materials which are allowed a continuous regeneration without losing the intrinsic qualities, guaranteeing a low environmental impact, as it does not create waste time and has limited processing costs.

Worldwide, the recycling of aluminum, in terms of tons per year, sees the United States and Japan in the lead, followed by Germany and Italy , both as regards the recycling of pre-consumer and post-consumer waste.

As we said, aluminum is 100% recyclable and reusable, theoretically, indefinitely, avoiding drawing on the earth's natural resources and contributing to the reduction of emissions of pollutants in the atmosphere.

Aluminum is one of the few materials that, once recycled, does not lose its chemical-physical characteristics, making it very similar to the material produced with the material natural first.

But let's see how aluminum is recycled

The waste material can come from separate collection, therefore from end-of-life items that the citizen discards, for example soda cans, cans of tuna, oil cans, etc .., or from scraps of industrial production that can be recovered and reintroduced into the production cycle after their recycling.

All these scraps, after their selection, are pressed into bales and sent to the foundry for recycling, which consists of a heat treatment at about 500°, with the aim of removing any paints or substances present and sodalized with aluminum.

After this pre-treatment phase, the material is then melted at a temperature of about 800 °, obtaining the liquid aluminum melt with which ingots are made or plaques, intended to represent the raw material for new artifacts.

The use of recycled aluminum finds application in all those production sectors that once used only virgin raw material, thanks to its qualitative characteristics it is used in the automotive sector, in the construction industry, in the production of objects for the home, for new packaging, for carpentry, in the nautical sector and in many other sectors.

What are the advantages of aluminum recycling

• Economic and strategic advantages, as a country can have aluminum even if it lacks natural raw materials to make it

• Energy advantages, as producing recycled aluminum saves about 95% compared to the production cycle starting from the natural raw material

• Environmental benefits, as the collection and recycling of aluminum waste contributes to the reduction of waste in the environment and reduces the consumption of earth's resources

Therefore, the recycling of aluminum fits perfectly with the dictates of the circular economy, which tends to contrast the linear economy, represented by the consumption process " extract, produce, use and throw ".

In Europe, the percentage of aluminum recycling now represents 50% of production, with peaks reaching 100% for example in Italy, driven by the fact that producing 1 kg of recycled aluminum involves an energy requirement of 5% compared to traditional production.

Recycling is not based only on ethical or environmental principles, but also becomes an interesting economic factor on which to build competitive business advantages.

Automatic translation, We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.