The Many Perils of Aluminum..
Production
Aluminum is predominantly made of a combination of virgin and recycled materials. A can, for instance, is about 1/3 recycled aluminum and 2/3 virgin materials. The creation of aluminum is extremely energy intensive. It takes 97,000 BTUs1 to produce the raw materials in one pound of aluminum and 23,000 BTUs to produce one pound of aluminum from recycled materials. By way of comparison, you have to burn more than eight pounds of coal to get 97,000 BTUs (and emit 24 pounds of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide). This is more energy than it takes to produce steel, glass, paper or plastic.2
Aluminum is made from Bauxite, a material mined all over the world including Asia, Africa, South America and Australia. Bauxite mining destroys more surface area than any other ore mining. Once the bauxite is extracted from the ground, it is crushed and pulverized creating aluminum oxide, as well as other oxidized metals and contaminants, some of which is leached into nearby waterways, such as streams and lakes.3
Next the Aluminum Oxide is smelted, creating Carbon Dioxide and Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), greenhouse gases that trap thousands of times more heat per molecule than Carbon Dioxide. In fact, aluminum smelting is one of the most damaging processes to the global climate. Smelting uses large amounts of electricity as well. The smelters in Oregon and Washington, for example, use 16 percent of all electricity in these two states. The end products are slabs of aluminum, which are trucked to mills and factories where the final product is produced.4
Post Production
After use, the aluminum product is either recycled or thrown away. While recycling of aluminum is fairly easy and widespread, takes less energy than plastic and more energy than glass, recycling aluminum causes tons of toxic sludge that still has to be disposed of. Further, about 40% of aluminum is thrown away. It is estimated that every three months, Americans alone throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire US commercial air fleet.5 This aluminum ends up in landfills, destined to spend the next 100 to 500 years before finally breaking down.6
Notes and Sources:
1. BTU-British Thermal Units= one BTU is roughly equivalent to the amount of energy you'd get by burning a match.
2. Aluminum production stats from Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, John Ryan and Alan Durning, (Northwest Environment Watch, 1997); Energy from coal from Homemade Money, Rick Heede and Staff of Rocky Mountain Institute, (Brick House Publishing, 1995); Energy from coal from Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for Coal, B.D. Hong and E. R. Slatick, (Energy Information Administration, 1994).
3. Aluminum production stats from Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, John Ryan and Alan Durning, (Northwest Environment Watch, 1997).
4. Ibid
5. Consumption Gumption, National Institute of Health Sciences, 2002.
6. Cumberland County Solid Waste Management, 2001.