It may not be a story that’s going to make the headlines of your favourite tabloid newspaper, but as we’re inextricably linked with the world of recycling, we think it’s an important statistic that’s noteworthy of a brief blog post today.
According to European Aluminium, the recycling rate for aluminium drinks cans has seen a modest increase in the overall percentage recycled in 2014 to 72.9%. This increase makes the compulsory target of 75% by 2025, which has been set by the EU, a realistic goal.
When you consider that the number represents almost 3 in 4 cans being recycled, it gives cause for some optimism about the future of recycling for our weary planet; not just with metals, but all other materials that are capable of being turned into something new.
One can per second
According to the group, almost 30 billion cans have been recycled across continental Europe, which they claim constitutes an aluminium beverage can being recycled every single second of the day.
The report goes on to say that it’s estimated that around 60% of all aluminium packages are now being recycled. Maarten Labberton, director of the Packaging Group is quoted as saying:
‘While we support the ambitious 75% target for aluminium packaging 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.’
For us here at Skip Hire Info, recycling aluminium is a no-brainer. As Maarten mentioned, aluminium does indeed have a high scrap value so even without a broad sense of responsibility to recycle, we’re spurred on by the financial incentive to do so. It should also be said that we already achieve general recycling figures of around 90% for all the waste we receive at our Sussex depot so even without this uplifting report today, we’re already doing pretty well!