Melting standardized aluminum scrap: A mass balance model for Europe

Although individual aluminum recycling companies have good knowledge of scrap in terms of its characteristic metal yield during melting, an overall view of this industry is still missing. An aluminum mass balance for the aluminum recycling industry in the European Union member states from 1995 to 2004 (EU-15) has been carried out. The objective was to increase the transparency of the complex recycling system and to determine how resource-conservative the industry is when melting aluminum scrap. Results show that in 2002, about 7 million tonnes of purchased, tolled, and internal scrap-with a metal content Of 94%-were recycled in the EU-15. By comparing the net metal input to the final product, the study finds a very respectable metal recovery rate of 98%.