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Aluminum is recycled into various products, including makeup, chemicals, and furniture. Bauxite is used to produce aluminum, but recycling saves 95% of the energy needed. Recycling aluminum is a step towards sustainability, and it can be recycled indefinitely. Aluminum cans are the most commonly recycled item, and Americans make about $1 billion annually from recycling aluminum.
Numerous items are made from recycled aluminum, including concrete, beverage cans, dishwashers, and other aluminum products. This recycled metal is also used in other types of items that many people wouldn’t think of, such as makeup products, chemicals, and furniture.
Aluminum is produced from bauxite, which is a sedimentary rock with various minerals in it. Bauxite is harvested through open pit mining. Water is extracted from the ore, which leaves behind a white powder called alumina or aluminum oxide. This material is made of aluminum.
Bauxite is used in concrete, beverage cans, dishwashers, house siding, makeup, chemicals, and other aluminum products. Recycling aluminum saves about 95% of the energy needed to make more aluminum from bauxite, so now about 30% of aluminum products are made from previously recycled items. It’s also an efficient process, taking as little as 60 days to collect, melt and turn a can into a new can.
Recycling aluminum is one step to help humans achieve sustainability. Sustainability is described as a paradigm shift that leads people to change their priorities and use technology and creativity to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs as well. By recycling instead of continually using natural resources, people can conserve energy and resources to maintain a quality of life that can be shared with generations to come. Since recycling metal does not damage its structure, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely.
Recycled aluminum is made into cake tins, house siding, aluminum foil, cans, small appliances, patio furniture, cars, bicycles, and many other items. Because of its energy-saving benefits, recycling is becoming increasingly popular among those involved in green living. Some types of wine and water bottles are now also made from aluminum. Almost all beverage cans are made from aluminum, which was first introduced to the United States in the 1960s.
There are many different ways to use recycled aluminum, beyond melting it down to turn it into new products. Countertops, jewelry, pet tags, floor tiles, and even a boat that one man used to sail from Hawaii to Japan have all been made from recycled aluminum. Soda can pull tabs have been made into purses, necklaces, and even beach chairs.
Aluminum cans are by far the most commonly recycled item. Over 1,600 million pounds (725,747,792 kg) of cans are recycled annually, up from 53 million pounds (24,040,396 kg) in 1972. Each can is worth about a penny to a recycling consumer, and Americans now make about $1 billion US dollars annually through the recycling of their aluminum. Every kilo of recovered aluminum saves the energy resources needed to generate approximately 7.5 kilowatt hours of electricity.
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