Aluminum recycling has room for growth

About 75% of the 1.5 billion tons of aluminum produced by mankind over more than two centuries are still in circulation. This became possible thanks to the recycling of the metal, says the International Aluminum Institute (IAI).
According to its estimates, about 38 million tons of aluminum were recycled in 2024. At the same time, about 81% of generated aluminum scrap was recycled in Europe, and 57% in the United States. China is still significantly behind them, although more than 10 million tons of this secondary raw material are generated there annually.

According to IAI analysts, by 2030 the volume of secondary aluminum scrap recycling will reach 57 million tons due to the introduction of new collection and remelting technologies. For Western countries, the production of secondary aluminum will become the basic direction of development of the industry, since high electricity prices will lead to a decrease in the production of primary metal.

Source: IIS “Metal supply and sales”