Aluminum Recycling In Los Angeles – Its Importance

By Author: Fred Hoffman
Total Articles: 31
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Commonly utilized for packaging, aluminum is largely used for manufacturing a great number of beer and soft drink cans all over the world. Now, you will be amazed to know that most of the new cans that are found on the store shelves are made from reprocessed aluminum. It is because in recent times metal recycling in Los Angeles have flourished considerably as it provides remarkable environmental, community and economic benefits. And most of the industries are focusing largely on reprocessing Aluminum as it is the most effective way of conserving this valuable natural resource.

Environment will get affected if the metal is not recycled

Every year, the US alone sells around 100 billion cans made from aluminum. Now, if virgin ore is used to replace those scraped cans with new one, it will lead to serious environmental damage. The president of the Aluminum Association, Steve Larkin states that when old cans are reprocessed to create new one, the process emits 95 percent less greenhouse gas. However, when new metals are utilized to manufacture the same it generates greater amount of harmful gas.

In addition, ...
... when aluminum cans are created from new ore it requires a considerable amount of bauxite ore. Now before smelting, the bauxite ore is first crushed and properly washed. Then it is refined suitably into alumina. The entire process produces a large amount of caustic mud that may come to around five tons. Now, this can contaminate groundwater and surface water, causing serious environmental damage.

Moreover, aluminum recycling reduces the carbon footprint in atmosphere effectively by preventing the release of about 90 million tons of the gas every year.

Reprocessing of the ore saves significant amount of energy

When this essential natural resource is reprocessed, it saves around 90-95 percent of energy that is required to create the metal from bauxite ore. It hardly matters whether you are reusing aluminum to make cans, cookware or roof gutters, since the process is remarkably energy-efficient. When a pound of the metal, say 33 cans are recycled, it saves around 7 kilowatt-hours of the electric current. The energy that is utilized to create one new can from virgin ore can seamlessly make around 20 cans when the metal is recycled.

So, you can well understand that why scrap metal recycling industries are gaining so much prominence in Los Angeles.

Considerable amount of energy gets wasted when it is tossed in the trash

When scraped aluminum is transported to the landfill without being recycled, a huge amount of energy is lost. It is because the amount of energy that is utilized in the process of manufacturing new material from virgin natural resource is sufficient to burn a 100-watt light for around five hours or to charge a laptop for about 11 hours.

It can be recycled infinitely

The International Aluminum Institute states that this valued material is not only recyclable, but it can be reprocessed countlessly. Moreover, the process of recovering the metal has no impact on its property or quality. In addition, the Aluminum Association pointed out that the procedure of recovering this natural resource is not very intricate and takes less time. It takes around 60 days to recycle a single aluminum can into a new one. Thus, it has been found that the rate of recycling of aluminum made cans is high when compared to the other recyclables. Recently, in the United States around 65% of canes have been recycled.

Demand for this valuable ore is growing steadily across the globe for its versatile use. In order to satisfy the increasing demand, the metal recycling industries in Los Angeles are encouraging the practice of proper conservation of this treasured natural resource.

Fred Hoffman has been in the industry of metal recycling Los Angeles for over a decade. According to him, the practice of scrap metal recycling in Los Angeles will not only help us keep the environment clean but also make some additional money.