The European Aluminium Association reports that the overall recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans in Western Europe continues to increase, with the 2007 recycling rate standing at 61.8 percent, a 10 percent increase from 2005.
The total number of UBCs consumed on the continent increased from 28.3 billion in 2006 to 32.0 billion in 2007, resulting in an overall aluminum share of nearly 70 percent in Europe. In Western-Europe consumers use on average 40 aluminum cans per capita. The consumption of aluminum cans in Central & Eastern Europe grew by 2.5 billion units to a total number 12.5 billion cans, an increase of 25 percent compared to the year 2006.
According to the EAA, Northern and Eastern Europe showed the greatest growth, while several Western European countries such as France, Spain, Greece and Germany demonstrated solid growth rates. The total market, including Central & Eastern Europe, grew by 14 percent to more than 37 billion UBCs produced. This includes also exports to non-European countries.
While the Northern-European deposit schemes maintained or even increased their high recycling levels, countries with mixed waste and separate metal packaging waste collection schemes further improved as well due to better collection and innovative sorting and recycling techniques. Countries such as the Netherlands, which rely heavily on the incineration of unsorted household waste, have invested in aluminum collection from bottom ashes and booked considerable progress.
To encourage continued growth in the collection and recycling of UBCs, the EAA is advocating for authorities and waste management operators to invest more in the latest available sorting and recycling technologies as pay-back times are relatively short given the high scrap value of well sorted aluminum, even in difficult economic times.
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