• Q. 1 When was EAA established and why?
• Q. 2 What are the main challenges the EAA and the European aluminium industry are facing today?
• Q. 3 What is the EAA’s vision and mission in terms of sustainability?
• Q. 4 How do aluminium applications and products help reduce carbon emissions?
• Q. 5 GHG emissions are a key indicator concerning environmental sustainability. How is the industry tackling the issue?
• Q. 6 What are the key drivers for emissions reduction?
• Q. 7 Why does your industry support a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach to products?
• Q. 8 Why is your industry favouring End of Life recycling vs. the recycled content concept as an indicator of recycling efficiency?
• Q. 9 How much energy is saved by aluminium recycling compared to primary production?
• Q. 10 If recycling saves more than 95% of energy when compared to the primary production; can it replace the primary production?
• Q. 11 More and more focus is set by policymakers on energy efficiency, eco-design, eco-labelling and Green Public Procurement. How is the aluminium industry positioning itself?
• Q. 12 Why is weight reduction one of the most efficient means to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles?
• Q.13 Is it true that light cars are not as safe as heavier cars?
• >> Q. 14 Recycling rates for the automotive and building sectors are very high (95% and 92% respectively), while average aluminium packaging recycling rate stands at 55%.
• Q. 15 How to combine competitiveness and environmental “performance”? Beyond current activities, what do you see as future opportunities for fostering the industry’s sustainability?

Recycling rates for the automotive and building sectors are very high (95% and 92% respectively), while average aluminium packaging recycling rate stands at 55%.

What can be made in order to improve the current collection schemes? What about further technological and innovative developments? Who are the actors involved? The recycling of aluminium packaging is constantly increasing. Also, further growth is expected due to additional and new collection activities planned for the coming years.

The recycling rate for used aluminium beverage cans in EU 27 + EFTA and Turkey is also increasing and now stands at 63%. If we include extra collection activities in addition to the official recovery rate, it can be safely assumed that 70% of all cans are recycled Europewide. The aluminium industry has always been proactive on this topic by setting up and funding collections and education programmes. Further progress can be in particular achieved for smaller aluminium foil-based packaging items, and existing collection systems, often multi-material, can further optimise their performance. To this aim, investments are needed in improved sorting techniques, e.g. the latest generation of eddy current machines, and intensified communication towards households, explaining that items such as menu trays, tubes, caps and capsules can be easily separated at home. On top, the industry has high expectations from the improved recycling of aluminium from the bottom ashes of the waste incinerators.

The intrinsic high scrap value of non-ferrous metals should convince local authorities and waste management companies to focus also on highly valuable aluminium fraction in the total household waste tonnage.