January 23: Aluminium producer Alcoa wants to halve the 750,000 tonnes of used beverage cans in North America that go to waste by raising the recycling rate to 75 percent by 2015.
The rate, once almost 70 percent in the 1990s, has since fallen to 52 percent.
Greg Wittbecker, Alcoa’s director of corporate metal recycling strategy, said, “The aluminium industry must work together for common sustainability goals that transcend individual commercial objectives, and we must approach this with a sense of urgency. It’s all about recapturing this pool of energy before it is lost to the landfill.”
