Did you know that the silver wrapping on the popular Hershey’s chocolate kiss is made of aluminum? To wrap the 20 million kisses that are produced every day, the Hershey’s Chocolate Company uses about 133 miles of aluminum wrapping.
Unlike paper and plastic, which have a limit as to how many times they can be recycled, many different types of metals can be recycled continuously without loss of quality. In addition, these metals can be recycled so quickly that they can end up back on store shelves in as few as six to eight weeks after being discarded.
Motor vehicles contain numerous recyclable materials, including steel. Guess how many cars were recycled in the U.S. during 2011? If you guessed almost 12 million, you're right. The estimated yield of shredded scrap from those vehicles is 15.5 million tons.
When it comes down to it, the dumping of metal in landfills has a large impact on the environment due to the dispersal of metallic particles in the ecosystem. By recycling metals and keeping them out of the waste stream, important conservation takes place.
What’s a “green flinger?” Good question. The term refers to eddy-current separators that combine a magnetic rotor and secondary magnetic field to create a magnetic reaction that pushes aluminum items out of a mixed waste stream.
