Aluminum Recycling Facilities
Aluminum is a metal element found in the Earth’s crust. Because it is durable, lightweight, and easy to recycle, it is a major component of many metal consumer products and industrial materials. Recycling aluminum from scrap like old cars, planes, cans, and electronics is cheap and energy efficient compared to primary production of aluminum from ore.
Aluminum recycling facilities are common across the United States, with many offering opportunities for local residents to drop off unwanted scrap metal. While this is convenient, aluminum recycling facilities can emit toxic chemicals into the surrounding air. These emissions can include heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and nickel that are associated with the aluminum in the scrap material. Exposure to these metals can cause damage to the lungs, heart, kidneys, bones, and brain. The burning of scrap material can also emit chemicals like dioxins, volatile organic compounds, and hydrogen chloride, which can all cause respiratory problems, brain damage, and cancer when inhaled. These facilities can also emit particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides, which contribute to air pollution and can cause respiratory problems, asthma, heart disease and lung cancer when inhaled.
Aluminum recycling facilities are often located in or near residential areas, so when they emit these harmful chemicals, nearby residents can be exposed to them. For example, an aluminum recycling facility in northwest Harris County, Texas has permits for emitting chemicals including dioxins, volatile organic compounds, PM, and nitrogen oxides. Nearby residents are concerned that these emissions may be contributing to elevated rates of cancers in the area.
The government knows that metal recycling facilities emit chemicals that harm nearby communities. In 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement alert explaining that emissions from many metal recycling facilities violated the Clean Air Act. Recycling should be a sustainable process – it shouldn’t pollute the air and expose communities to toxic chemicals. State and federal regulatory authorities must ensure that aluminum recycling facilities don’t harm communities by exposing them to these chemicals.
