(204) 687-6169
Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc.
  • Home
  • Recycling
  • Landfill
  • News
  • About Us

It Should Be Illegal

6/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Originally published  Sept 28/16  The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Every time I see an aluminium can in the garbage I cringe. In my opinion, it should be illegal to throw them away.

I did some research and found that recycling aluminium is a very simple process which uses 95% less electricity than making it from scratch.

To put that in perspective, recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to light one 100 watt light bulb for 20 hours or power one laptop for over 5 hours.

There are other environmental issues that make recycling aluminium a much better idea.

Making aluminium from the raw material called bauxite requires lots of cheap electricity so aluminium plants have large hydroelectric dams close by. These dams cause major damage to the natural flow of rivers.

Fluoride is the main chemical used in making aluminium. The process results in several toxic left overs that contain fluoride. These may be released into the environment, usually as gases into the air. In countries with poor regulations and reporting laws, there can be considerable health problems for workers and pollution in the environment. This has been documented in several places.

Aluminium is made in many parts of the world.  China is the largest producer.  

Aluminium can be recycled over and over again. A recycled can may become another aluminium can within 60 days.

According to Wikipedia, Brazil recycles the most at 98% of its aluminium cans. The US recycled 31%.

If it is not recycled, an aluminium can will take 500 years to break down.

Recycling aluminium is easy and so environmentally friendly, it should be illegal to throw aluminium cans away.

So if you see any, be sure to get them into a recycling bin.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Author
    Deb Odegaard has been with the Flin Flon Community Recycling program since it began  in 1992.  She  became the Administrator in 2013.
    Deb writes a  column 'The Recycling Bin' in The Reminder, Flin Flon's newspaper. Past columns are posted here along with recycling stats  and anything else on her mind. 

    Categories

    All
    Brief History
    Events
    Recycling Bin 2020
    Recycling Bin 2021
    Recycling Statistics
    The Recycling Bin 2014
    The Recycling Bin 2015
    The Recycling Bin 2016
    The Recycling Bin 2017
    The Recycling Bin 2018
    The Recycling Bin 2019
    The Recycling Bin 2023

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    RSS Feed

​Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc