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Cans, foil, and other items such as trays are made out of aluminium. In North America one of the major product being recycled is aluminium. Though Americans recycle about 65-70% of the aluminium used in their household, thousands of tons of this is discarded each year. When thinking of recycling aluminium, the image that comes to mind is of cans. But the fact is that any household item made of aluminium, like lawn furniture can be recycled. The local recycling depot can clarify any doubt whether an aluminium item is recyclable or not. The process which aluminum products must go through before they can be used in new products is an interesting one. Aluminum products are collected from various recycling depots and taken to a processing plant that deals with scrap. Once at the processing plant the aluminum must be sorted and then condensed into slabs. You may be wondering what happens to the labels on pop cans or other types of coating. This is all dealt with at the aluminum company, which is where the slabs are sent to next. The aluminum company shreds and crushes the slabs. All the labels and coatings are removed at this point. New aluminum is added to the recycled, and they are melted together. Most aluminum that we buy contains about 50% recycled product. Once it has been melted the aluminum can be made into any shape necessary. Of course, the process will differ slightly depending on the type of product that is being being made. Aluminum recycling sounds easy doesn't it? As aluminum is the most common metal on the planet, why do we bother recycling it? We aren't going to run out of it for eons, but using new product is actually more energy consuming. Another issue is the waste factor. People living in North America waste a huge number of products every year. All this waste ends up in landfills and we are running out of room to establish more of them. Not only that, but waste harms all animal and plant life living in the landfill sites. To get more people to recycle aluminum, companies might consider deposits. When we buy a can, we usually are paying a deposit built into its price. If we want that deposit back, we must return the can. It then enters the cycle of going to a recycling center and then on to be processed. Recycling is good for everybody as it lessens waste accumulation, saves energy, and creates jobs. A lot of people are more environmentally conscious than ever before, but there are still a number of them who don't think about it or decide it's too much trouble. They are still just tossing used aluminum cans and other recyclables. In case there is no recycling program in your locality then it is a good idea to start an environmental group and take up aluminium recycling as a start up scheme. Once you do that you will notice that many people and local businesses are interested in the project.
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About the Article Author
Harry Browar is the chief editor for First Alluminum, a fantastic resource for information about alluminum, For more articles on alluminum why not visit: www.firstaluminum.com/articles Don't reprint this article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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