The overall recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans in the EU 27 + EFTA countries increased by 1.5% points to a new record level of 69.5% (70%) in 2012. When considering the collection of cans in the remaining European countries and Turkey, the result is that the metal of more than 27.5 billion cans remains in the European circular economy and is available again for the production of new aluminium products. The collected cans represent a total amount of 390,000 tons of recycled aluminium, preventing more than 3.12 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Moreover, these collected cans represent a total amount of 390,000 tons of recycled aluminium, avoiding more than 3.12 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), i.e. the average yearly emission of about 340.000 EU citizens, equivalent to the entire population of cities like Florence, Cardiff or Alicante. Each tonne of recycled aluminium saves up to 95% of the energy used or the GHG emitted to produce the same amount of primary aluminium. (Sources: Normalisation method and data Environmental Footprints, EAA Environmental Profile Report_ April 2013).
The European Aluminium Association (EAA) considers this 70% result an important milestone in its path towards its voluntary recycling targets for used beverage cans set for the reporting years 2015 (75%) and in 2020 (80%).
