Dive Brief:
- The recycling rate of aluminum cans reached 66.7% in 2013.
- This is the third year in a row the rate was above 65%. During the 2000s, the rate averaged 54% according to a study conducted by the Aluminum Association and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI).
- Aluminum cans are currently the most recycled beverage packaging type in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
The growth rate behind the aluminum recycling rate is the result of U.S. recyclers increasing the importation of cans.
There are still approximately $812 million worth of aluminum cans that didn’t make it to the recycling bin in 2013. To recover the commodities down the road, there’s always landfill mining. In March, a company offered to buy a closed Michigan landfill for $1 million. TerRenova, the company behind the offer, plans to use the area as an excavation site for recyclables.
Reporting the aluminum can recycling rate started in 1972. At that time, the rate was 15.4%. In 2012 the recycling rate- in regard to aluminum cans- was 67%, for a total of 62 billion cans recycled that year.