10 reasons why aluminium is important for a sustainable future

3 September 2019

Here are 10 reasons why aluminium is important for a sustainable future.

1. If 1 million tons aluminium were to be produced in Norway instead of China, it would save the environment 15 million tonnes of C02 emissions. That’s more than the entire Norwegian Climate Settlement.
2. 75% of the aluminium that has ever been made is still in use. This is because the metal can be recycled over and over again.
3. Recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminium for the first time.
4. Used beverage cans in aluminium are the most recycled metal product in the world.
5. The consumption of aluminium has increased with more than 100% since 2000, and the demand is rising steadily. This makes aluminium the metal with the highest growth in demand in the world.
6. Aluminium weighs only one-third of steel. This is one of the reasons aluminium is more frequently used in car production: lighter cars use less fuel and emit less CO2.
7. The beverage can you recycle, might reappear in a car part, a window frame or a large number of other shapes and forms in its next life.
8. The thinnest foil of aluminium Hydro is able to produce is only 6 micrometers thick, about that of a human hair.
9. Juice cartons are covered in aluminium on the inside to protect the content and reduce the need for cooling. Only 1 gram of aluminium is needed to make the really thin foil that covers the inside of a 1-liter carton.
10.  Aluminium was costly and difficult to extrude 150 years ago. Napoleon III only set his table with aluminium cutlery for his most prominent guests. Other guests had to settle for gold.