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/sci/ - Science & Math

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1399382 No.1399382 [Reply] [Original]

hey /sci/

we recycle aluminum cans and other metal because they have value but we don't recycle aluminum foil.

Is there a reason for this? Is aluminum foil an inferior grade of aluminum? or is it technically not an aluminum?

>> No.1399411

>>1399382
We don't recycle it because people are idiots. You could reprocess it in to airplanes for all I care.

Aluminium is shit easy to recycle. Heck, almost all metals are recyclable, look at steel, yesterday's warships are today's buildings, yesterday's buildings are today's warships!

>> No.1399412

>>1399382

I recycle it and waste companies also recycle it.

also aluminium foil is pure aluminium, its just really really thin.

>> No.1399416

aluminum foil can be recycled if it isn't all covered in food residue.

same thing as cans, if you smear food all over and inside them they aren't recyclable either most places.

>> No.1399425

>>1399416
It can be recycled even if it's covered in food residue. Heck aluminum cans as covered in plastic liner and ink. None of this matters though, because it will burn off when you melt it.

>> No.1399433

Why should anyone recycle?
You're not really going to make any money off of it, just the recycling corporation will.

The only people who recycle are retarded liberals.

>> No.1399437

>>1399416

Doesn't the food get vaporized when the aluminum gets smelted?

>> No.1399451

I recycle all my aluminum everything.

>>1399411

That's true, close to 99% of the steel in the US is recycled.

>> No.1399470

>>1399425

You can put it in the recycling bin if you want. But all of it gets sorted for reprocessing, and the person sorting it is going to toss nasty wadded balls of aluminum foil and food into the bin that goes to a landfill.

>> No.1399477

>>1399433
resources are finite. unlike plastic and paper which produce inferior products when recycled (and paper is a reusable resource; trees) metals produce the same quality product.

>> No.1399494

>>1399477

Although they a finite, they are still readily available, which presently does not provide a powerful incentive to recycle.

When resources become scarce, recycling will become a more attractive option.

>> No.1399671

>>1399494
It makes your beer cheaper. It cost more to mine aluminum than it does to recycle it(by a factor of a lot). The beer companies pass the savings on to you.

>> No.1399709

>>1399671

actually mining it is dirt cheap. the problem is that its ionization energy is very high and it takes >9000 kj/mol to turn aluminum oxides into metallic aluminum.

>> No.1399743

>>1399671
Citation please? I'be been trying to prove this to someone.

>> No.1399773

>>1399743
I'm feeling lazy today look it up yourself. To get to it requires that I move.