2023-09-15 13:13:00
Rome, 15 September. (time.news) – “By 2030, global demand for aluminum will increase by almost 40% from the current 86.2 Mt to 119.5 Mt. And this growth will be largely driven by the ecological transition. For example, in the automotive sector and more generally in transport, the now unstoppable electrification process will lead to an increasing use of aluminum components. At the same time, the development of photovoltaics (the panels are made up of 88% aluminium) will determine an additional demand for aluminum equal to approximately 10 million tonnes per year”. This is how Duccio Bianchi, a scholar of environmental policies, presents the results of the recent ‘Urban Mines’ dossier, on the occasion of the ‘Aluminium Recycling: Italy leader in Europe’ conference. Risks and opportunities in the new economic and regulatory scenarios’, organized by Cial-National Aluminum Packaging Consortium.
The study by Bianchi, consultant and researcher in the field of environmental planning and waste management, also underlines that in Europe as much as 79% of post-consumer aluminum is recycled (it was 65% in 2005) and that the waste pre- consumption have a recycling rate that is almost total. But – according to the results of the study – a global increase in recycled aluminum is still highly desirable. Also for environmental reasons since the production of primary aluminum has a significant environmental impact: compared to CO2 emissions of 0.5 t for each ton of secondary aluminium, the world average of primary production is around 17 t of CO2 (i.e. 34 times that of secondary aluminium).
Our country is the leading European producer of recycled aluminium, both in terms of production quantity and in terms of scrap used. In 2021, national production of secondary aluminum reached historic highs, reaching 954 thousand tons. But the road can still be improved: by increasing the overall mass of the material collected and reducing ‘material losses’. In fact, the study highlights that, compared to a potential presence of around 167 thousand tonnes of aluminum in urban waste, there is a ‘loss’ of aluminium, apparently not recycled or recovered, of around 65 thousand tonnes, just under 40 % of the total. It is above all on the ‘bulky waste’ side that there is the greatest room for improvement. “Suffice it to say that from the management of bulky waste, which accounts for around 60 thousand tonnes of aluminium, today less than 1,500 tonnes of aluminum are recovered due to the absence (or improper management) of devices for capturing non-ferrous metals”, concludes Duccio Whites.
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