European Aluminium has announced that aluminium beverage cans are well above the future EU Circular Economy recycling targets.
With an increase of 0.7%, the overall recycling rate of aluminium beverage cans in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland reached to 73.6% in 2015.
The achieved percentage is above the recently approved new EU 2025 recycling target of 65% for all packaging.
Aluminium products are used in a range of markets, including packaging, automotive, transport, high-tech engineering, building and construction.
Over 32 billion cans have been recycled on the whole European continent, including other East-European countries, Russia and Turkey.
According to European Aluminium, the recycling rate shows that every second at least 1000 aluminium beverage cans are being recycled somewhere in Europe.
The recycled metal is said to remain in the European circular economy, which will be used for the production of new aluminium products.
European Aluminium said the recycling aluminium takes 95% less energy than producing it from its raw materials, and the recycling process generates only 5% of the greenhouse gas emissions.
European Aluminium Packaging Group chairman Andy Doran said: ‘’We strongly recommend that local authorities together with the waste management chain invest more in innovative sorting technologies.
“Fortunately, these investments will pay off quickly, due to the relatively high scrap value of aluminium.”
"Packaging recovery organisations should embrace our successful awareness programme with the can manufacturers, Every Can Counts, and help us to convince the European citizens to the do the right thing, which is to collect and recycle their used cans wherever they are.”
Based in Brussels, European Aluminium actively engage with decision makers and the wider stakeholder community to advance the striking properties of aluminium and optimise the contribution of the metal to meet Europe’s sustainability challenges.
European Aluminium works with more than 80 members, including primary aluminium producers, downstream manufacturers of extruded, rolled and cast aluminium, producers of recycled aluminium and national aluminium associations.
