Global Aluminium Recycling Brochure - Transport

14
4. Measuring the Recycling
Performance: End-of-life
Recycling of Aluminium
The recycling performance of the aluminium industry
can be described by different indicators, namely
the overall and the end-of-life recycling efficiency
rate (see definitions). The latter is split into the endof-life
collection rate and the processing rate.
Separation of aluminium scrap from end-of-life
products is mainly driven by market mechanisms
and the high value of the scrap, which explains the
high rates of aluminium from applicants such as
building products or overhead cables. However, we
are living in the world of “dematerialisation” and
multimaterial solutions, where functions can be
fulfilled with less and less material: cans get lighter,
aluminium foil as a barrier material in packaging
gets thinner and thinner, aluminium parts in vehicles,
windows, machines, electrical and electronic
equipment get smaller and/or more complex. From
a sustainability standpoint this is altogether a positive
development, but requires additional efforts
for the collection and separation of aluminium from
end-of-life products.
Societies, governments and communities need to
work alongside the industry to create effective collecting
systems to ensure the constant improvement
of recycling rates in all applications sectors.
Usually, refiners and remelters report their (gross)
metal yield by comparing their outputs of metal ingots
with their scrap inputs, as values between 70%
and 95%. In 2005, an aluminium mass balance for
the aluminium recycling industry in the EU-15 was
carried out by Delft University of Technology, taking
into account foreign material (paint, paper, plastic,
lubricants etc), at the input side of the scrap and
aluminium recycling from skimmings and salt slag.
The study has shown that the real metal losses for
all scrap melted in the EU-15 are usually less than