US aluminium cans recycling rate drops to 43%, prompting associations to revisit policies to meet 70% goal by 2030

A recent survey by the Aluminum Association and the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) has shown a surprising downtrend in consumer aluminium cans recycling in the United States. Once averaging at around 52 per cent in the 1990s, the rate has decreased to 43 per cent in 2023. However, a silver lining is that aluminium cans still have a higher recycling rate than glass, with a recycling rate of 39.6 per cent and plastic bottles with 20 per cent.

Image Source: The Aluminum Association

Learning and suggestions

Outdated recycling infrastructure and less passive approach to recycling policy could be the reasons behind the drop in the United States’ aluminium cans recycling rate. Charles Johnson, president & CEO of the Aluminum Association, said: “Our current approach to recycling in America is simply not working at the level we need. While we recycled more than 46 billion cans in 2023, we threw away more than 61 billion cans – that’s an average of around 15 twelve-packs of cans for each person in the country. That’s nearly $1.2 billion worth of aluminium that ends up in a landfill every year. This is bad for the economy, the environment and national security. It also puts the United States toward the bottom of aluminium can recycling compared to peer countries.”