US recycled 67% aluminum cans in 2012; recycling rate hit 20 year high

WASHINGTON (Scrap Monster) : The recycling rate of aluminum cans by the US touched a 20 –year high in 2012, the highest after 1992. According to statistics released by the consortium of industry groups, the country recycled 67% of the total aluminum cans produced during the year. The country recycled a total of 62 billion cans out of the 92 million cans produced.

The metal companies in the US had recently stepped up collection and processing of scrap cans. Aluminum giants including Alcoa and Novelis has scrap can recycling programs to roll out the used cans into sheets. These sheets are used by different firms to produce new cans.

Alcoa-the largest aluminum maker in the US had announced several plans last month to boost its presence in the recycled aluminum market. It also had tied up with Boeing to augment recycling of aluminum aerospace alloys.

Novelis too had decided to increase the use of recycled material in production.

The stepped-up recycling efforts by the aluminum majors have helped the country to achieve record high recycling rates.