The Beginnings of Aluminum: Bauxite Mining
Did you know that aluminum is the second most used metal after steel and that it can be recycled infinitely and not lose its quality? In fact, “because of this efficiency, more than two-thirds of all the aluminum ever produced is still in use today.” The more we commit to recycling aluminum and purchasing recycled aluminum products, the more we can work together to prevent the need to extract bauxite from the earth to create new aluminum.
“Bauxite, a complicated mixture of compounds consisting of aluminum, oxygen, and other elements, is the primary commercial source for aluminum.”
Aerial view of a bauxite mine by Luis Castaneda/Getty Images. “It requires 4 tons of ore to create 1 ton of aluminum.”
“ Large reserves of bauxite are found in Australia, Brazil, Guinea, Jamaica, Russia, and the United States. ”
Can you identify the countries that hold the largest reserves of bauxite?
To create a bauxite mine, the land must be cleared, which means all vegetation, top soil and trees need to removed so that access roads can be made for the miners and equipment to remove the bauxite from the earth. During the mining process, “harmful substances are emitted.” In addition, indigenous people, those who are native to the area, are often negatively effected by mining. Although creating mines does create jobs, the results of pollution and waste are detrimental to those living closest to the land. It takes many decades after the ore has been extracted for the land to be reclaimed and restored, which doesn’t always happen.
“Recycling aluminum prevents the need to mine for ore to create new aluminum.” So the next time you finish drinking from an aluminum can, be sure to rinse it out and put it in your blue bin. Tin foil, pie plates and pans can all be recycled if they are clean, dry and larger than 2 inches. Clean and save your bits of foil to make these fun figures. Once you’ve saved enough, ball up your foil into a baseball sized piece and place it in the blue bin.
For more resources on the story of aluminum and the benefits of recycling aluminum, check out these articles that were used as sources for this post:
IVAM: Aluminum and Sustainability
What One Thing Should I Recycle? Aluminum!