Aluminium The recycling Aluminium recycling Aluminium The SmartTiP SmartTiP recycling

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Aluminium is made from the ore bauxite, which in Aluminium made the ore (Weipa), bauxite, Northern which in Australia is is mined infrom Queensland Australia (Gove) is mined in Western Queensland (Weipa), Northern Territory and Australia (Boddington, Territory (Gove) and Western Australia (Boddington, Huntly and Willowdale). Huntly and Willowdale). Natural resources used to make aluminium Natural resources used to make aluminium Bauxite Bauxite Once hot, the aluminium can be rolled between large Once hot, aluminium can be rolled between large rollers to the produce thin sheets suitable for making rollers to produce thin sheets suitable for making cans and foil. Aluminium cans and aluminium foil cansmade and foil. cans and aluminium foil are from Aluminium the best quality aluminium as only are made from the best quality as only high quality aluminiumm can be aluminium pressed and rolled high quality aluminium can canbe bepressed pressed and rolled rolled high quality aluminiumm can and so thinly and still stay strong. Cans are excellent for so thinly and still stay Cans areis excellent for recycling because thestrong. recycling cost much less recycling because the recyclingfrom costraw is much less than the cost of manufacturing materials. than is the cost ofonly manufacturing from raw materials. This because 5% of the energy is needed to This is because only 5% of the aluminium energy is needed to recycle aluminum to remake products recycle aluminum to remake aluminium aluminium products products recycle aluminium to remake from aluminium cans. from aluminium cans. One tonne of recycled aluminium cans will make one One tonne of aluminium; recycled aluminium cans will make one tonne of new there is NO waste material. tonne of new aluminium; there is NO waste material. The recycling of aluminium is critical to conserving The recycling of aluminium is energy critical to conserving mineral resources, reducing consumption mineral resources, reducing energy consumption from mining and transportation and reducing waste from mining and transportation and reducing waste to landfill. Aluminium recycling makes economic to landfill. Aluminium makes and economic and environmental senserecycling as pure metals many and environmental sense as pure metals and many alloys need far less energy to recycle than to mine, alloys need lessIn energy to aluminium recycle than to mine, extract and far smelt. fact, 20 cans could extract and smelt. In fact, aluminium cans could be recycled with the same20 amount of energy as it be recycled with the same amount of energy as it takes to make one new can from raw materials. takes to make one new can from raw materials. Decomposition Decomposition Aluminium cans and aerosols can be recycled to help Aluminium cans and aerosols can be when recycled to help save natural resources, however, they are save natural resources, however, when they are discarded to landfill, they can take up to 500 years to discarded to landfill, they can take up to 500 years to decompose. decompose.

Manufacturing Manufacturing Aluminium is made from the ore bauxite, which Aluminium is made from the oxides, ore bauxite, which consists mainly of aluminium iron oxides consists aluminium oxides, iron caustic oxides and clay. mainly Bauxiteof is crushed and mixed with and clay. Bauxite is crushed and mixed with caustic soda, which removes impurities, leaving a fine soda, which removes impurities, leaving a fine white powder, which is then heated to remove any white powder, is then heated to remove any moisture. Thiswhich produces pure aluminium oxide moisture. This produces pure aluminium (alumina). The alumina is smelted in a large oxide steel (alumina). The alumina is and smelted in a large steel furnace, removing oxygen leaving pure molten furnace, removing and leaving pure aluminium. Pure oxygen aluminium is poured tomolten make aluminium. Pure aluminium is poured to make ingots. ingots. Converting bauxite to aluminiuium is not as simple Converting to aluminiuium isnot not as simple simple Converting bauxite to and aluminium is as as melting bauxite the ore recovering the metal. as melting ore electrical and recovering metal. Instead, a the strong current the is passed Instead, the a strong current is passed through aluminaelectrical (electrolysis) separating the throughand theleaving alumina (electrolysis) separating the oxygen the pure aluminium, which can oxygen andand leaving the pure aluminium, which be melted poured off. Small amounts of can the be melted(magnesium, and poured silicon off. Small amounts of are the elements or manganese) elements silicon or to manganese) are added to (magnesium, the molten aluminium give it added added to the molten resistance aluminium to give it added strength, increased corrosion or strength, increased resistance to this corrosion or better casting properties. Through extraction better casting Through these extraction better casting properties. Through this extraction processes fiveproperties. tonnes of bauxite are converted to processes five of tonnes of bauxite are converted to only one tonne aluminium. only one tonne of aluminium.

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General aluminium recycling - beyond the recycling bin. Aluminium cans placed in the recycling section of the bin, are sent to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for sorting. The aluminum cans are separated using an eddy current which repels the cans into a holding bay. Once sorted, the cans are crushed into bales for transportation to the reprocessing facilities. At the reprocessing facilities, the cans are melted at 0 700 C in a rotary furnace. They are then cast into ingots which are either used directly in the production of industrial products (such as alloy gear boxes and engine blocks) or converted into aluminium sheets. Sheet aluminium is then used to produce new aluminium cans, house siding, roof guttering or even aircraft skins. What can be recycled at the kerbside? Aluminium drink cans Aluminium aerosol cans What cannot be recycled at the kerbside? The following items are not acceptable in the recycling section of your bin: aluminium foil and aluminium pie trays; and large aluminium items such bike frames etc. Large aluminium items can cause damage to machinery used in the recycling process, and items such as aluminium foil and pie trays are too small for collection. Facts Australians consumed more than 3 billion aluminium cans in 2002. Of these, 47% were soft drink cans and 53% where alcoholic beverage cans. Australians currently recycle more than 2 billion aluminium cans each year. If you picked up the 900 million aluminium cans that are thrown away every year and took them to a scrap metal dealer, you would get $15 million. Thats $15 million being buried in landfill every year. Aluminium cans are the only container permitted in the Himalayas, Nepal, because they are light and easy to crush. The local people collecting the cans earn earn money money from from returning returning the discarded discared cans them for recycling. So much electricity is needed for aluminium production that the smelting plants (factories that process aluminium) need their own power plants. Since 1980, cans has has Since 1980, the the weight weight of of aluminium aluminum cans been reduced by more than 30%, reducing the amount of resources needed. The recycling cans in in Australia Australia The recycling rate rate of of aluminium aluminum cans in 1996 was 62%, in 2000 it was 74% and in 2003 was 77%. Sources: Visy - www.visy.com.au Planet Ark - www.planteark.com.au The Aluminium Can Group www.aluminium-cans.com.au

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Recycling tips Rinse and squash cans. Remove lids and plastic nozzles from aerosols DO NOT SQUASH AEROSOL CANS!

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