What are the pros and cons of recycling aluminum?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of recycling?

Aluminum containers are deposited in the yellow container along with plastic containers, bricks and other metals. When they reach the packaging treatment plants, they can be separated manually or by means of magnetic separators based on the eddy current (or eddy current) effect.

With this technique, the aluminum waste is ejected from the conveyor belt, the steel waste remains attached and the other materials are not affected. This allows the waste to be separated into three fractions that end up in different containers.

Any aluminum product can be recycled an infinite number of times without losing its properties. Thanks to aluminum recycling, the material can be reused as many times as necessary and with optimum qualities. The recycling cycle starts right after its production, as the offcuts and scraps from this industrial process are recovered and recycled directly.

There are many different types of aluminum that are commercialized in the recovery market, but they can be basically grouped into four: rolled products (construction plates, printing plates, aluminum foil, vehicle body parts…), extruded products (window profiles, vehicle parts…), gravity or injection molded aluminum (engine parts, door handles, etc.), drawn products for cable manufacturing and other uses.

Aluminum recycling pdf

Aluminum is one of the most recyclable and recycled materials available. It is also one of the materials that has grown the most when it comes to being recovered for reuse. Therefore, we tell you everything you need to know about recycled aluminum.

These figures are similar in many countries around the world, where the potential of recycled aluminum is also being exploited. A very curious fact is that it is estimated that 75% of the total amount of aluminum historically produced in the United States is still in circulation.

This is because during the recycling process they do not lose any properties. Once melted and reduced to pure raw material, it returns to being aluminum that is virtually indistinguishable from the aluminum it was first made from.

In the case of paper, for example, we are dealing with a material with a high recycling potential, but the reuse process alters its properties. This means that not all recycled paper is the same, can be used for the same purpose or can be reused an infinite number of times.

As we can see, recycled aluminum is a fundamental part of our daily life. Being one of the most recycled and recyclable materials, we should never forget to put it in the right container.

Disadvantages of metals

Aluminum windows were loved and loathed by many people in the 1980s. The choice back then was not as wide as it is today and the material had an unsightly appearance. Today, this is no longer the case, as this material is widely used for its great durability, versatility and accessibility.

One of the advantages of aluminum is that it is a lightweight material that does not require constant maintenance. If you have a house with complicated window openings, aluminum can be custom-made. If you are building a modern house, aluminum is an excellent choice and, best of all, it can be painted in over 300 different colors. Also, the paint used to paint aluminum has the ability to withstand various weather conditions. On the other hand, if you don’t want to be concerned about maintenance or don’t want to have to replace it in the short term, aluminum is a durable material. It is also environmentally friendly and can be recycled without losing quality.

Advantages and disadvantages of metals

Thermoplastics. They are easily recyclable plastics since they melt when heated and can therefore be molded several times without altering their original properties too much. However, during the different reprocessing cycles they undergo modifications and therefore cannot be recycled more than 5 or 7 times. The best known thermoplastics are: LDPE, HDPE, PP, PET, PVC, PS, EPS and PC.

Thermosets. These are difficult to recycle because they are made up of polymers with chemically linked chains that require the destruction of their molecular structure in order to melt them and this leads to a major alteration of their original properties. There are different thermosets: phenolic resins, ureic resins, etc…