Fun Facts About Aluminum

Many people know that aluminum is one of the valued recyclable goods in our society because of the money that it pays quickly to the hauler. Whether you are fishing cans out of the park or delivering thousands of pounds from commercial accounts, aluminum pays well. But what many don’t know is how little aluminum is actually recycled by Americans. On average, every person drinks a beverage from at least one aluminum can per day. However, only 49% of those cans are recycled. With so much money out there to be made through recycling and the fact that an aluminum can is 100% recyclable, the natural question is why?

Fun Facts About Aluminum:

Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours or burn a 100 watt light blub for 4 hours.

With an aluminum can being 100% recyclable, one can go through the recycling process and be back on the shelf within 60 days.

It takes 80-100 years for an aluminum can to decompose at a landfill.

There is no limit to how many times aluminum can be recycled.

Every minute of every day, roughly 120,000 aluminum cans are recycled.

40 years ago, it took 22 aluminum cans to equal one pound. Today, it takes 29 cans to equal the same amount.

In 2014, an estimated 36 billion aluminum cans ended up in the landfill at an estimated recyclable value of $600 million dollars.

Each year, the aluminum industry pays out over $800 million for empty aluminum cans.

Over 50% of all aluminum cans produced are recycled.

Aluminum is the most abundant metal on the planet.

1 year of aluminum recycling equals 6 years of power.

During the time it takes for you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are produced!