You can save up to 75% of the energy used to make products with raw materials by simply recycling your old ones. Saving energy isn’t usually on people’s minds when you mention metal recycling but it’s a fun fact. So why recycle metals you say? Well I think I can give you some pretty persuasive reasons and even some benefits of metal recycling.

By recycling metal, you are conserving natural resources. The greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to a fraction in comparison to making something from virgin ore. According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) by recycling metals we may be able to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 400 million tons. If you recycle a soft drink can you actually conserve enough energy to power a lightbulb for around 4 hours.

Almost all metals are recyclable. They can come in the form of a can, tool, car part or even a toy. Some recyclable metals include tin, brass, bronze, cast iron, steel, copper and aluminium. The only metals you cannot recycle are uranium, mercury, plutonium. So basically, that means nothing radioactive or dangerous.

As a matter of fact, aluminium is almost infinitely recyclable. To make one can from scrap uses 5% of the energy it would take to make a brand new one. However, Australians managed to recycle just over 2 billion aluminium cans in 2005. What a good effort.

The most recycled metal is steel. Over 50% of the worlds steel production uses metal that has been recycled. Every recycled tonne used saves 1000kg of iron ore, 50kg of limestone and 630kg of coal. It also reduces air pollution by around 90%.

Additionally, here are some examples of metals you can recycle in your normal recycling bin include metal lids, cutlery, foil, aerosol cans, cake trays, cans, cooking oil tins. You must remember to empty and clean the items and never put them in plastic bags. In addition, metals you mustn’t put in your normal bin are whitegoods, scrap metal, phones, e-waste, batteries, pots and pans and fluorescent lights. There are usually special places you can take them for recycling purposes.

So now I have given you a few reasons to recycle your metals I’ll leave you with this thought. The best part about recycling your old metals is that it contributes to the solution of global warming and not the problem.