This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
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story → publish → collaboration
A global supply shortage and US tariffs have roiled the aluminum market this year, putting greater pressure on the United States to produce more of its own metal.
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shortage → roil → metal
Plans to build or reopen giant smelters are moving forward, but they all hinge on securing huge amounts of cheap power—at a time when data centers are chasing every last electron.
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centers → build → electron
Recycling aluminum, on the other hand, uses only 5 percent of the energy needed to make virgin metal in smelters, and the US has an abundance of scrap.
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US → recycle → scrap
The problem is that millions of tons of it wind up in landfills, owing to the country’s spotty recycling policies and the logistical headache of salvaging high-quality aluminum scrap.
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millions → wind → scrap
As demand grows for the versatile metal—for soda cans, solar panels, lightweight cars, power cables, and data centers—policy experts are pushing states and the federal government to adopt measures that can boost aluminum recycling rates and reduce the country’s dependence on imported and smelter-made metal.
“It’s a secure supply chain issue,” said Joe Quinn, executive director of the Center for Strategic Industrial Materials at SAFE, a think tank that published a report this month on America’s aluminum deficit.
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that → grow → deficit
“There are environmental benefits all day long,” he said of recycling.
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he → be → recycling
“But I need the metal back in the market.”
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I → need → market
A major reason why so much aluminum winds up as waste is that mechanical recycling systems aren’t up to the task.
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systems → wind → task
Aluminum often arrives lumped together with other metals like copper, brass, and titanium.
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Aluminum → lump → copper
It’s also difficult to identify specific alloys—blends of aluminum that contain other elements to make them stronger and more durable—that are used for certain applications, like electrical equipment or vehicle parts.
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that → ’ → equipment
US scrap metal is frequently shipped overseas and sorted by hand, or shredded and melted down into low-value products.
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metal → ship → products
A handful of companies are rolling out new technologies that use lasers, advanced sensors, and artificial intelligence to find treasure in the trash.
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that → roll → trash
The startup Sortera Technologies raised $45 million last year to build a second high-tech recycling facility, in Lebanon, Tennessee, that plucks out valuable aluminum alloys from mixed scrap metal.
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that → raise → metal
A UK-based firm, Greyparrot, installs AI cameras in other companies’ recycling plants to track aluminum cans, glass bottles, and plastic packaging with the goal of increasing recovery rates.
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firm → base → rates
Mechanical sorting equipment can overlook a large portion of recyclables that move down conveyor belts, especially if the system is overburdened with material or its components are faulty, said cofounder Ambarish Mitra.
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Mitra → sort → material
Earlier this year, Greyparrot installed its systems at Circular Services’ sprawling facility in Brooklyn, which processes most of New York City’s curbside recycling.
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which → instal → recycling
Greyparrot determined that 89 percent of aluminum passing through the plant is recyclable, which is nearly double the average extraction rate for US facilities, Mitra said.
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Mitra → determine → facilities
“A substantial amount of money is left on the table,” he added, referring to aluminum that could be sold into secondary markets but slips through the cracks instead.
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that → leave → cracks
“In every plant we have gone in, the yield has gone up, and the residue line—which is everything that will go into the landfill—has become leaner, because more and more extraction is going on.”
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extraction → go → landfill
The Center for Strategic Industrial Materials has called on US policymakers to adopt federal incentives and increase research funding for advanced sorting technologies.
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Center → call → technologies
Benjamin Carlson, the center’s director, noted that using more recycled aluminum across the economy can free up supplies of virgin aluminum for sectors like military defense and aerospace that require high-purity metal.
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that → note → metal
The lack of suitable sorting tools isn’t the only barrier to scaling up aluminum recycling, Carlson acknowledged.
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Carlson → scale → recycling
“The real challenge in the United States is just getting people to recycle it, period,” he said.
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he → get → it
Recycling rates for beverage cans in particular are declining, in part because of what the Aluminum Association called a “passive approach to recycling policy.”
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Association → decline → policy
Americans tossed out some 61 billion of the containers in 2023, representing $1.2 billion worth of aluminum, according to the trade group and the Can Manufacturers Institute.
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Americans → toss → group
Ten states have enacted “bottle bill” policies over the decades that reward consumers for redeeming beverage containers.
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that → enact → containers
The approach has long been considered an effective tool for boosting recycling, though proponents say state policies are in dire need of an update.
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policies → consider → update
New York, for example, has never raised its deposit return fee of 5 cents since creating its system in the 1980s, and recycling centers still receive the original 3.5 cents per can.
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centers → raise → can
Given rising inflation and the higher cost of living, the work of collecting and returning containers is losing its appeal for many consumers and becoming less profitable for collection sites.
“There are fewer and fewer redemption centers every year and lower and lower redemption rates,” said Ryan Castalia, executive director of Sure We Can, a nonprofit recycling center in Brooklyn, where bags of containers are piled high like mountains.
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bags → give → mountains
“It’s lost income for everybody, and an increased amount of cans in the landfill.
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It → ’ → landfill
However, as Connecticut has learned, raising deposit fees is not a simple fix.
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raising → learn → fees
After the state increased the value of its own bottle deposits from 5 to 10 cents in 2024, redemption rates doubled by the end of 2025.
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rates → increase → 2025
But many of those cans are likely coming in illegally from out of state, imposing a cost burden on Connecticut’s wholesale beverage distributors, who ultimately foot the bill for the refunded deposits.
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who → come → deposits
Castalia said he’s feeling the effects in neighboring New York.
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he → say → York
In the past 18 months, Sure We Can has seen a roughly 25 percent drop in the total volume it handles, from a peak of 13 million containers per year to around 10 million containers, as collectors chase higher deposit fees across the state line.
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collectors → see → line
While the center receives grants and philanthropic donations, he said declining revenues make its financial situation more precarious.
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situation → receive → grants
Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, said her state’s 5-cent deposit fee is similarly insufficient—not only because the rate is 43 years old but also because the modern explosion in single-use drink containers is causing more litter.
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explosion → say → litter
She said a regional bottle-bill network for New England states could help enhance recycling and lend momentum to efforts in other parts of the country.
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network → say → country
Castalia noted that while a federal program seems “vanishingly unlikely” at the moment, a blanket approach could help address the flaws in the current patchwork of state policies.
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approach → note → policies
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
