You’ve probably heard of ‘food miles’ – the idea that transporting food over long distances gives it a huge carbon footprint relative to locally produced food.
Those out of season Californian grapes and Peruvian asparagus spears may be delicious but they come with much bigger clouds of carbon dioxide emissions than locally grown, in-season produce.
Recycling Miles
It’s a similar story when it comes to metal recycling. Large amounts of scrap metal recyclable materials are shipped around the globe, racking up millions of recycling miles. Sometimes this is because there are no facilities in Australia that are able to recycle a particular type of waste, or the main markets for the recycled materials may be elsewhere.
Where local recycling companies are able to safely process a particular waste stream, however, there’s a real opportunity to slash those recycling miles.
Think Global, Act Local
Sure, it’s a cliché, but the message is a valid one. Recycling locally cuts carbon emissions. It also creates more jobs within Australia and reduces the number of hands that the waste needs to pass through before it is recycled.
Some scrap metals can go through a dozen different countries before it is finally recycled, and that increases the risk of scrap metals being diverted and illegally dumped.
Our Commitment
Recycal continues to invest in local recycling infrastructure for the safe processing of all metals from many industries, including those involved in resource extraction.
The result is that we are able to handle much of the metal materials that have other attachments (plastic/paper etc) and obtain a pure Aluminium or copper for recycling. Aside from ensuring the safe recovery of these metals from other contaminated materials, an added bonus is a big reduction in the carbon emissions that would otherwise occur when transporting this waste to the other side of the world, or sending it to landfill.
Find out how easy it is to take the carbon miles off your company’s metal recycling activities. Give us a call to see what Recycal can do to help recycle the metals in your business.
