Brazil remains leader in aluminium can recycling

Brazil recycled 97.9% of all aluminium cans consumed in the country in 2012, making it the top can recycler in the world for the 11th year in a row.

Figures from the country’s aluminium association (Abal) and high-recyclability can producers association (Abralatas) show that about 267,100 tonnes of cans were recycled in 2012 in Brazil.

In comparison, the USA recycled 67% of the cans in the market while Japan recycled 92.5%.

In 2011, Brazil had recycled 98.3% of the cans available in the market.

“Brazil is currently on the verge of what is possible to recycle. We will hardly reach 100%,” Renault de Freitas Castro, Abralatas executive director, said.

The sheer number of people working as can collectors and several organised cooperatives are among the factors that make the country a leading recycler. The sector alone generated 630 million Reais ($276) in revenues last year.

“The recycling chain [in Brazil] has the advantage of being structured to absorb and process growing volumes of discarded cans [...],” Carlos Roberto Morais, coordinator of Abal’s recycling commission, said.

Atlanta-based Novelis, accounted for more than 70% of all the aluminium cans recycled in Brazil, corresponding to 13.9 billion cans.

The company is currently investing $35 million to increase its recycling capacity at its plant in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo.

The target is to increase capacity to 390,000 tpy, from the current 200,000 tpy by April 2014.

Aluminium recycling needs only around 5% of the electrical energy used in the production of primary aluminium.