Postconsumer aluminum scrap sets record in 2019

The International Aluminum Institute (IAI), London, recently released new data showing gains in the aluminum scrap market. The data was published in the IAI’s recent Material Flow Model update, a two-page report that can be read here.

According to the report, postconsumer aluminum scrap hit a record 20 million metric tons of intake in 2019. IAI says this represented about 60 percent of scrap intake that year, saving 300 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

According to a news release by the IAI, the postconsumer scrap intake came from three sources, including packaging, vehicles and building and construction.

“Aluminum demand is expected to increase by about 80 percent in 2050, and the IAI forecasts that recycled aluminum could meet half of that demand,” says Marlen Bertram, the director of scenarios and forecasts for the IAI. “With ambitious collection targets for used beverage cans and improved recycling technologies for foil, this rate could even be higher.”

Bertram says the IAI can now look back at nearly 70 years of historical data from mining to product, recycling and trade for nine regions and globally. The 2021 update includes a complete historical dataset for 2019 as well as a 2020 partial dataset.

The latest IAI update includes two key industry scenarios on all aspects of aluminum production and demand up to 2050. This takes into account the impact of COVID-19 and plays a key data source for IAI’s recently launched Aluminium Sector Greenhouse Gas Pathways to 2050 report.

The annual update provides a review of the aluminum industry covering primary aluminum production, alumina production, inventories, regional semis shipments and trade of bauxite, alumina, aluminum, semis, final products and scrap.