useful aluminium statistics

• aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust and is the earth's second most used metal
• the aluminium drink can is the world's most recycled packaging container - worldwide over 50% of aluminium cans are recycled
• nearly 60% of the aluminium used in the UK has been previously recycled
• recycling aluminium drink cans saves up to 95% of the energy needed to make aluminium from its raw materials
• making one aluminium drink can from raw materials uses the same amount of energy that it takes to recycle 20

• recycling 1 kg of aluminium saves 8kg of bauxite, 4kg of chemical products and 14 Kilowatts of electricity
• the energy saved by recycling 1 aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours
• in 2007 the UK generated 144,000 tonnes of aluminium packaging waste (source: defra)
• Every minute of every day, an average of 113,200 aluminium cans are recycled (source: thinkcans.net)
• the average household uses 3.2kg of aluminium cans a year - that's about 208 cans
• if all the aluminium drinks cans recycled in the UK last year were laid end to end, they would stretch from John O'Groats to Land's End 140 times
• an aluminium drink can contains four different aluminium alloys: the can body, can end, ring pull and the rivet attaching the ring pull

For more great facts visit our fact sheet pages in the news and facts section.