The largest source of aluminum in municipal solid waste (MSW) is aluminum cans and other packaging. Aluminum is also found in durable and nondurable goods, such as furniture and appliances.

This web page is a brief summary of aluminum materials-specific data. For more comprehensive information, see the 2015 Data Tables on the Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Report page.

On this page:

• Overview
• Summary Table and Graph

Overview

EPA measures the generation, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfilling of aluminum materials.

EPA used Aluminum Association industry statistics to estimate aluminum generation. In 2015, aluminum generation was 1.4 percent of total MSW generation at 3.6 million tons. This included 1.8 million tons of aluminum containers and packaging, as well as 1.8 million tons found in durable and nondurable goods.

Similar to generation, EPA used industry data from the Aluminum Association to calculate recycling statistics. In 2015, the total recycling rate of aluminum containers and packaging, which includes beverage containers, food containers, foil and other aluminum packaging, was 36.4 percent. Within this number, the most recycled category of aluminum was beer and soft drink cans, at 54.9 percent (0.7 million tons).

The total amount of aluminum combusted in 2015 was roughly 0.5 million tons. This number was 1.5 percent of all MSW combusted with energy recovery in 2015.

In 2015, landfills received approximately 2.4 million tons of aluminum. This was 1.8 percent of all MSW landfilled that year.

Please see the EPA Methodology document for further information on estimating the generation and management of aluminum.

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Summary Table and Graph

The data below are from 1960 to 2015, relating to the total number of tons of aluminum generated, recycled, composted, combusted with energy recovery and landfilled.

Source: Aluminum Association

A dash in the table means that data is not available.

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