Declining Aluminum Recycling Rates

Originally published by American Recycler News, Inc.

According to a recent report by the Aluminum Association and the Can Manufacturers Institute, the recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans has hit the lowest point in decades, declining from an average of 52 percent in 1990 to a 43 percent recycling rate in 2023.

According to Mark Rea II, general manager of supply and trading with Georgia-Pacific Recycling, there are several factors that have led to the current 30 year low for aluminum recycling rates.

First, is the unintended consequence of single stream recycling. Single stream recycling has helped boost recycling rates in general by enabling different types of recycled goods to be collected in one receptacle. But, unfortunately, single stream recycling leads to the contamination of some of those recycled items, like aluminum, and there’s a lack of technology to address that contamination.

As Rea explained, the result is that some aluminum collected through single stream recycling can’t actually be recycled.

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