Alcoa Recycling

For as long as we've been making aluminum, Alcoa has been recycling aluminum. In fact, we've been doing so since we invented the smelting process in 1888. That's because aluminum is infinitely recyclable.

Alcoa collects both aluminum cans and other aluminum scrap for recycling in Alcoa, Tennessee. Today, aluminum used beverage containers (UBCs) and many other forms of aluminum scrap are procured through Alcoa Recycling’s seasoned buying team. If you’re an industrial recycler and want to sell scrap to Alcoa, visit Alcoa Recycling’s Contact Us page for more information.

The mission of Alcoa Recycling is to help people understand how important it is to recycle, and to make it easier to do so. Today, it’s more important than ever to recycle. Recycling not only reduces litter and conserves landfill space, it is also an important key to slowing and stopping the growth of greenhouse gases caused by power generation.

Aluminum is Infinitely Recyclable 

The aluminum can is infinitely recyclable – that means it can be used, recycled, and turned back into a new can endlessly. In fact, it can be recycled and back on the store shelf as a new beverage can in less than 60 days! And that’s great for the environment because it takes 92% less energy to make a can from recycled aluminum, than from raw materials. By recycling aluminum cans, we’re also saving valuable space in our landfills.

Recycling is also a great way to earn cash too. Aluminum is the most valuable material in the recycling bin. Although by weight it is less than 2% of the USA’s recycled stream, aluminum generates 40% of the revenue to sustain all recycling programs. So by recycling aluminum cans, you can earn cash, while saving the environment too.

Aluminum is Sustainable
Because recycling aluminum saves so much energy, this is a huge opportunity for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint. In fact, if we could recover and recycle 75% of aluminum cans —600,000 metric tons of aluminum—we could save 1286 megawatts of generated electricity. That's the amount produced by two coal fired power plants. Replacing this production with recycling would keep 11.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being generated and released into the atmosphere.

Supplier Information for UBC Quality

The quality level of purchased UBCs has a direct impact on both the productivity and costs incurred by the mills that process them. A lack of UBC quality can also cause unsafe conditions for both personnel and equipment in those mills.

Alcoa Recycling and its suppliers must work together to ensure that the UBCs supplied meet your customers' quality requirements. The use of quality standards is the key enabler to achieving this goal.Continual attention to quality will protect the inherent value of UBCs as a feedstock for new aluminum can sheet and further the competitive position of the aluminum can in the marketplace.

Earn cash recycling 

Whether you want to recycle aluminum cans to raise money for your own special project, or to help out one of your favorite charities, it’s easy to set up a program and start collecting cash for your cans. It not only benefits the environment, but can be an effective fundraiser too. With this toolkit you’ll learn how to set up your own recycling center, promote your cause, and learn where to turn in your cans for cash. Follow our step-by-step guide and you’ll be recycling in no time!

Our Position on Aluminum Can Recycling

• unmatched recyclability with a recycling rate twice as high as other containers and is the only package that can be recycled in a closed loop an infinite number of times;
• Recycled content that is more than double the rate of competing containers
• A shape and package weight that provides significant transportation efficiencies creating superior source reduction
• increasing public understanding of the importance of recycling in order to drive behavior change, and
• increasing the infrastructure available to consumers
• recognizes the value of the resources that need to be kept from landfills as well as material specific recycling rates and content
• properly assesses the cost of waste and the value of recycling
• respects the existing market-based aluminum recycling industry that is vital to our business.