Dive Brief:
- 62 billion aluminum cans were recycled in 2012, which is 67% of the 92 billion cans made that year.
- This volume of recycling has reached a 20-year high due to increased efforts by scrapping companies to process the aluminum; a peak rate of 67.9% was reached in 1992.
- Companies such as Alcoa and Novelis are taking steps to advance the percentage of recycled aluminum by using a larger volume of recycled metals in the creation of new material.
Dive Insight:
Brazil and some areas of western Europe are still ahead of the U.S. in terms of recycling aluminum.