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Emissions Savings
Landfill Savings

The positive impact, in perspective:

  • Aluminum recycling production at Spectro Alloys saves enough energy to power 174,968 homes(c). That’s more homes than in the entire city of Minneapolis(e).
  • Aluminum recycling production at Spectro Alloys reduces Green House Gas emissions equivalent to taking 124,923 cars off the road(d).
  • Recycling production at Spectro Alloys saves enough aluminum from landfills to fill a box the size of a football field and over 200 feet high every year.

 

Thinking Green

Spectro Alloys is the largest scrap aluminum recycling plant in the Midwest. We are proud to be leaders in the sustainable aluminum recycling industry and are committed to continuous improvement of our environmental stewardship initiatives.

Compared to primary aluminum production, the aluminum recycling process uses 95% less energy and releases 4.09 tons less CO2 for every ton of metal produced(a,b). Here’s our current annual contribution to energy, CO2 and landfill space savings:

 

 

energy savings
Sources: Spectro’s estimated annual production of 80,000 tons. (a) Million British Thermal Units (MBtu) per ton of “replacement” containers; ie., the difference in energy required to make 1 ton of containers from 100% virgin materials vs. 100% recycled materials. Source for per ton energy requirements: “Waste Management and Energy Savings: Benefits by the Numbers.” Choate, Ferland et. al., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC, October 2005. (Formula= 80000 x 206.9 = 16,552,000 Million BTU) (b) Metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE) per ton of “replacement” containers; ie., the difference in GHG emissions between making 1 ton of containers from 100% virgin materials vs. 100% recycled materials. Source for per ton emissions data: Derived from Exhibit 4.4, “Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases: A Life Cycle Assessment of Emissions and Sinks, 2nd edition.” EPA530-R-02-006, May 2002. (Formula= 80000 x 4.06 = 324,800 Tons of CO2) (c) Avg. annual residential energy use: 94.6 Mbtu/household. Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “A Look at Residential Energy Consumption in 2001.” www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/consumption. (d) Average American car emits 1.3 MTCE/year. Derived from “Prioritizing your climate waste activities.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. October 2005. <www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/ reduce/wstewise/pubs/cliwaste.pdf> Accessed 2-6-05. (e) http://www.city-data.com/city/Minneapolis-Minnesota.html.
(f) Volume calculation: 1000lbs of scrap metal = 72cuft (6ft x 4ft x 3ft compressed bale)

We are proud to be leaders in an industry that so significantly reduces the impact of humans on the environment. Being industry leaders means breaking new ground and adopting the latest technology. This process is central to achieving our long term environmental stewardship goals, but it is not risk free. In the past we have been cited by the EPA for emissions violations. Please read our response.

More information and statistics:
www.aluminum.org
www.container-recycling.org
epa.gov/climatechange

Environment Cycle
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