Aluminum is one of the most environmentally friendly metals in use today. It is a sustainable metal and can be recycled over and over again and Hydro is dedicated to being environmentally responsible. We offer Green Anodic Coatings, Eco-Powder and Green Billet, which is produced from a minimum of 95% external/internal recycled content.

Our remelt facilities are ISO 9001:2015 certified, state-of-the-art facilities that provide consistent premium quality billet for our many extrusion plants. Primarily remelting 6005, 6060, 6061, 6063 and 6105 alloys, our ability to cast a full range of commercial alloys also reinforces our commitment to reduced lead times and flexibility of supply.

Recycling is the cornerstone of aluminum’s sustainability and saves as much as 95% of the energy required for primary aluminum production. One ton of the recycled metal saves 14,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, 1,663 gallons of oil, 237.6 million BTUs of energy and 10 cubic yards of landfill space. Its easy recyclability is unlimited and its production is among the least harmful of metal production processes. Here are a few other interesting statistics:

According to the EPA, Americans discarded about 1.9 million tons of aluminum during 2012 as containers and packaging. Another 1.7 million tons were used to make durable and nondurable goods, such as appliances and automobile parts.

There is no limit to the number of times aluminum can be recycled. It’s a durable and sustainable metal: two-thirds of the all aluminum ever produced is still in use today.

• Aluminum takes 200-500 years to fully degrade in a landfill.
• A used aluminum can is recycled and back on store shelves as a new can in as little as 60 days.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your TV for three hours.
• Recycling aluminum uses 95% less energy than the production of primary metal from raw materials.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
• An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres or about 40 football fields.
• Aluminum can be recycled forever without any loss of quality or properties.

Aluminum recycling and secondary smelting requires preprocessing of the scrap aluminum to remove impurities, followed by remelting of the metal. To maintain purity, the remelted aluminum is typically mixed with pure aluminum produced in a primary smelting plant (usually a 50-50 mix). Prior to melting, various mechanical, thermal, chemical, and magnetic techniques are used to separate contaminants and non-aluminum materials from the scrap.

Many remelting plants enable customers to recycle their own scrap to optimize their production processes. We are happy to discuss the taking back of any scrap arising from customer processing. From raw aluminum to “green” billet to finished products,

Hydro is a leader in custom aluminum extrusions in Missouri and throughout the U.S., specializing in common alloy extruded aluminum products and in the recycling of industrial aluminum to create unique finished products we use every day.