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I used to feel bad when I had a plastic container of a type that my town didn't recycle. Then China stopped accepting a lot of our "recyclables", a move that pu

I used to feel bad when I had a plastic container of a type that my town didn't recycle. Then China stopped accepting a lot of our "recyclables", a move that put a lot more scrutiny on the industry and what really happens. Apparently paper is only a little better, especially since 2018. Glass & aluminum though are supposedly well utilized, though notable in that their raw materials already require-- and can sustain-- being molten down to liquids in a process that gets rid of the dirty bits we leave on them.

ashtonkem 6y ago
Aluminum is actually quite profitable to recycle. The aluminum smelting process uses a ton of electricity, re-melting is much cheaper.
- hanche 6y ago
  Amazing statistics: 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today. https://aluminiumtoday.com/news/international-aluminium-institute-publishes-global-recycling-data https://aluminiumtoday.com/news/international-aluminium-inst...
  - ineedasername 6y ago
    That makes me disproportionately happy.
  - edeion 6y ago
    Really? Does this number account for aluminium foil too? In France it's long been said that this should be thrown with the non-recyclable. Is France an outlier in this regard? Does that mean aluminium foil is a negligible amount?
    - hanche 6y ago
      My guess is that aluminium foil is indeed negligible in the big picture. But of course, I don't really know how accurate the original statistic is, either, nor do I know the distribution of aluminium for different uses. I imagine a lot of the metal is to be found in aircraft, which are of course pretty long-lived objects.
- Ekaros 6y ago
  Aluminium is one of the best recyclable materials very low losses and initial energy output is multiple times higher for pristine material than one in recycling. I suppose copper and steel aren't too bad in that regard either.
zeristor 6y ago
Glass, at least in the UK, just seems to be broken into aggregate to be used in building roads: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1907207.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1907207.stm I believe they’ve given it the catchy name glassphalt

ashtonkem 6y ago

Aluminum is actually quite profitable to recycle. The aluminum smelting process uses a ton of electricity, re-melting is much cheaper.

hanche 6y ago
Amazing statistics: 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today. https://aluminiumtoday.com/news/international-aluminium-institute-publishes-global-recycling-data https://aluminiumtoday.com/news/international-aluminium-inst...
- ineedasername 6y ago
  That makes me disproportionately happy.
- edeion 6y ago
  Really? Does this number account for aluminium foil too? In France it's long been said that this should be thrown with the non-recyclable. Is France an outlier in this regard? Does that mean aluminium foil is a negligible amount?
  - hanche 6y ago
    My guess is that aluminium foil is indeed negligible in the big picture. But of course, I don't really know how accurate the original statistic is, either, nor do I know the distribution of aluminium for different uses. I imagine a lot of the metal is to be found in aircraft, which are of course pretty long-lived objects.
Ekaros 6y ago
Aluminium is one of the best recyclable materials very low losses and initial energy output is multiple times higher for pristine material than one in recycling. I suppose copper and steel aren't too bad in that regard either.

zeristor 6y ago

Glass, at least in the UK, just seems to be broken into aggregate to be used in building roads: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1907207.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1907207.stm I believe they’ve given it the catchy name glassphalt