Aston

Sustainability

Sustainable living for better future with metal recycling

 Metal recycling decreases the environmental impact of mining by giving an alternative to unrefined ore. Mining activities disrupt natural ecosystems and pollute the surrounding air, water, and soil, hence recycling metal is critical to reducing the visual pollution connected with metal mining.

 

Reduce energy consumption

Metal manufacturing/production for raw materials is extremely energy-intensive. In reality, making 20 cans from recycled metal takes about the same amount of energy as making one can from raw materials. Energy costs for metals like aluminium and copper can be reduced by more than 75% by using recycled metal instead of natural resources.

The Environmental Advantages of Recycling

When metal products are simply thrown away, there is more than a price tag that comes with it. This probably doesn’t come as a shock, but the sacrifice made is the environment.

 

Many do not understand that when the metals are simply dumped, we risk exposing the environment to the rawest form of these metals. It doesn’t sound like a bad thing until we break it down. Or perhaps more succinctly, “not able to break it down” as it pertains to most metals.

 

When we fail to recycle these metal components, we risk the exposure of our plants, soil, animals, and water to toxic metal components like europium, cerium, and neodymium.

How Does Scrap Recycling Address Natural Resources?

Scrap recycling is a major, billion-dollar global industry that takes end-of-life materials and processes them into useful raw materials. 

 

For manufacturers, using recycled metals is far less costly than having to take on the expense of mining for virgin ore to make metals from scratch. And the savings they get from using recycled materials can be passed on to consumers in the form of lower costs. Scrap metal recycling is a winner economically.

We want to improve those numbers because every piece of scrap that goes into a landfill poses a serious environmental and ecological risk. Recycling also enables us to conserve our natural resources far more effectively and efficiently. It’s been shown that recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, and 3 cubic yards of landfill space.

How Can Consumers and Businesses Play a Role in Sustainability?

Recycling is not only a healthy practice for our environment and our economy, but it also reduces energy consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.  At the same time, it provides a steady supply of raw materials for the manufacturing economy. The more we recycle in the future, the more we can expect increased environmental benefits – and greater energy savings.
The United Nations Climate Neutral Strategy is now working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and commits all UN organizations to measure, reduce and then offset any greenhouse gas emissions that can’t be avoided while heightening awareness about the importance of sustainability.