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The Aluminum Can Infinitely Recyclable

The Aluminum Can Infinitely Recyclable. An Overview of the PE Americas Aluminum Can LCA Report. 1. US Aluminum Industry. 2009 $31.8 in shipments 33.7 billion pounds $91.8 billion impact on the US economy 3,384 production facilities 106,219 workers. 2. Established in 1935 86 members

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The Aluminum Can Infinitely Recyclable

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  1. The Aluminum CanInfinitely Recyclable An Overview of the PE Americas Aluminum Can LCA Report 1

  2. US Aluminum Industry 2009 • $31.8 in shipments • 33.7 billion pounds • $91.8 billion impact on the US economy • 3,384 production facilities • 106,219 workers 2

  3. Established in 1935 86 members 47 producer members 39 associate members Key issues Climate and regulation Sustainability Health and Safety Standards and Data The Aluminum Association 3 2

  4. Recycling in the US 4 2

  5. Funded by 3 can sheet manufacturers Alcoa, ARCO, Novelis 2 years in the making, and 17 years since the last LCA Data demanded by our members… and our customers Beginning the Can LCA 5 2

  6. Conducted by a global leader PE Americas, Nuno da Silva Accepted by US Environmental Protection Agency Complimented and cited by Franklin Associates Credibility 6 2

  7. The Story of the Aluminum Can • What we already know about the can. • What we found as a result of the study • What is a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)? • Why did we do it? • How do you conduct an LCA? • Methodologies • Results 3

  8. What We Know The Can—Infinitely Recyclable • A recycled aluminum can is back on the store shelf in 60 days. • Using recycled aluminum saves 95% of the energy that would be used to produce new aluminum. • The aluminum beverage can is the world’s most recycled container - more than 69% of all cans are recycled worldwide. • Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can’s volume of gasoline. • Recycling 1 ton of aluminum saves the energy equivalent of 1,100 gallons of gas or electricity used by a typical American home over 3.5 years 4

  9. What We Found The Aluminum Can is more sustainable than ever.... 9

  10. A Lower Carbon Footprint • Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 44% since 1993 • Emissions reductions led by greater energy efficiency in aluminum production and can manufacturing 5

  11. A Lighter Can • Today’s cans use 15% less aluminum than they did in 1993. A lighter can means less material to manufacture and ship 6

  12. Energy Savings 30% Decrease in energy use since 1993 Our efforts to find more and greater energy efficiencies are paying off 7

  13. The Most Recycled Beverage Container in the World • Each can on average is made from 68% recycled content—more than any other beverage container in the world. The more containers that are recycled, the better our recycled content, the lower our energy emissions, the lower our carbon footprint. That’s why our goal to raise North American recycle rates to 75% by 2015 is so important. 8

  14. Our Goals • Understand our environmental footprint and identify opportunities for improvement. • To provide an updated LCA and information for: • The Can Manufacturers Institute • The Environmental Protection Agency • Walmart • External stakeholders/ LCA practitioners 9 05/19/10 10

  15. What is Life Cycle Analysis? • It’s a tool to help quantify a product’s impact on the environment and help reduce it. • A life-cycle assessment examines the potential environmental impact of a product through its entire life-cycle • from the raw materials • through its production, distribution, use, disposal, and recycling • LCA identifies and quantifies the energy and raw materials used—and the emissions and wastes generated. 10

  16. What about this LCA? What the Study Does What it Doesn’t Do • Fulfills Walmart expectations • Establishes corporate stewardship • Updates and benchmarks LCA • Confirms efficiency and recycled content claims • Compare aluminum to competing materials • Provide comprehensive internal comparison 11

  17. Timeline Aluminum Association begins LCA Walmart Requests LCA Data from Materials Industries Walmart begins to disadvantage companies not in compliance LCA Completed and Peer Reviewed Walmart Announces Sust Initiative First Aluminum Association Can LCA 1993 2005 2007 2008 2010 12

  18. Walmart Expectations • The information is adopted from an EPI case study • **** For individual items of the metric, the lower the score, the better it is, for final normalized score, the higher the better. • Scale is 1-10, with ten being the best. • ***** Arrows indicate possible changes after the new LCA data is adopted 13

  19. Why Two Approaches? • Recycled content approach implemented by Walmart • Closed loop approach practiced by most LCA practitioners • Both sets of results are valid and based on identical data • Future Al Assn communications will emphasize closed loop approach • Both data sets will be included in report, and available to the public 14

  20. Results: per 1000 cans Aluminum sheet input: 16.78 kg (weight cans: 13.34 kg/ 3.44 kg scrap @ can manufacturing) 15 05/19/10

  21. Participating Organizations • Rolling Mills (Alcoa, Logan Aluminum, and Wise Alloys) • Can Manufacturers Institute Members • Secondary Aluminum Producers (Aleris, Novelis, Alcoa, Logan Aluminum) 16

  22. Peer Review Todd BoggessMr. Boggess works for Secat and is in charge of their research grants from the US Department of Energy. Dr. Bruce W. Vigon – Dr. Vigon is the editor of the Society of Toxicology and Chemistry’s LCA newsletter and has chaired many LCA reviews. Dr. Mary Ann Curran Dr. Curran works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is a recognized international expert in LCA. 17

  23. Resources www.aluminum.org/LCA • Press release • Q&A • LCA Study • Stakeholder Deck

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