IAI Study Highlights Role of Aluminum Cans in a Circular Economy
Research commissioned by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) into the recycling of three beverage container materials – aluminum, glass and plastic (PET) – has shown that aluminum cans best support a circular economy. The study shows that compared with aluminum cans, more glass and plastic bottles end up in landfills because they are not collected. In addition, the losses in the recycling system once collected, is three times higher for PET and glass bottles than for the aluminum cans.
On behalf of the IAI, Eunomia Research and Consulting studied data in five regions: Brazil, China, Europe, Japan and the US. It looked at the end-of-life processing losses for aluminum cans, glass bottles and plastic (polyethylene terephthalate - PET) bottles. The study also looked at the collection, sorting, reprocessing and thermal processing, closed-loop recycling and open-loop recycling.