Product Life Cycle — Approach
Aluminum is one of the world's most sustainable materials. About 73% of the aluminum produced in the world since this industry began about a century ago is still in use. Accordingly, the need for landfill sites is reduced. In addition, recycling aluminum uses 95% less energy than it takes to manufacture new product.
Aluminum offers a significant range of benefits—high strength, lighter weight, longer life, etc.—that helps our customers' products become more sustainable as well. That is why we are focused on better understanding the sustainability of our current products and opportunities for improving and generating new ones. Alcoa is involved in developing products and processes to increase both the amount of aluminum used throughout the world and which can be recovered for recycling.
In the transportation sector, the use of aluminum translates into increased fuel efficiency and fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For example, because aluminum reduces the weight of vehicles, each kilogram of aluminum used instead of traditional materials eliminates an average of 20 kilograms of GHG emissions over the lifetime of the vehicle.
It is estimated that by 2025, if not sooner, the aluminum used in cars, trucks, trains, and buses will offer enough potential fuel savings to compensate for all the greenhouse gases generated by the world's aluminum companies.
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We believe our products have an important role to play
As a light, strong, versatile metal that recycles over and over again, aluminum offers energy-saving solutions to consumers and industry that few other materials can match.
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