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The aluminium industry for a resource efficient Europe.

Issued at 2014-02-05



Aluminium has permanent features that contributes to resource efficiency and t to save more resources than are needed to produce it. The durability of the material means that 75% of the aluminium ever produced in still in use, with ve End-of-Life recycling rates of over 90% in transport and construction applications, and about 60% in packaging.

Starting from these unique properties, the aluminium industry is pro-actively engaged on two of the most important steps of the waste management hierarchy as described in the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD): prevention and recycling. In view of growing end-use demand and a lack of sufficient domestic primary aluminium production in this part of the world, Europe has a huge stake in maximizing the collection of all available aluminium and developing the most resource-efficient scrap treatments and melting processes.

In order to achieve this, the European Aluminium Association strongly recommends focusing on the following six key measures:
- More ambitious recycling targets, a gradual phasing out of landfill of end-use recyclable goods and further restrictions for dumping this type of waste.

- Better collection and sorting for recycling, guaranteeing the generation of high quality scrap ready for remelting into new valuable end-use products, and improvement of design for dismantling or design for recycling of end-use products.
- Better and transparent reporting to and by Eurostat about the national recovery and recycling results focusing on actual recycling.
- Better definitions of recycling making a clear distinction between endless material recycling in a closed material loop and recycling which ultimately results into the degradation of the collected materials.
- Better monitoring the export of metal scrap to other world regions, guaranteeing that the material remains available for the needs of the European industry. In this respect it might be helpful to develop a certification system for scrap remelting facilities in these countries, operating under similar safety, health and environmental conditions as in Europe.
- The application of the correct LCA methodologies which fully recognizes the end-of-life recycling credentials of metal products. All this should help us to obtain further recognition for aluminium as a 'permanent material', alongside other materials which claim to be fully renewable, biodegradable or reusable.


Source: Aluplanet



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