What is scrap aluminum?

What is scrap aluminum?

Scrap aluminum is a common term for recycled aluminum and is also the main raw material for recycled aluminum. Broadly speaking, scrap aluminum can be divided into two categories: new scrap aluminum and old scrap aluminum.

New scrap aluminum refers to the process waste generated by downstream aluminum processing and casting enterprises in the production process, that is, products scrapped due to poor performance. After the new waste aluminum is generated, it will be recycled by the production enterprise or transported to the aluminum electrolysis plant to exchange for the required aluminum ingots. It is worth noting that when conducting statistics on scrap aluminum, there are few data on this type of scrap aluminum due to its difficulty in statistics. Therefore, statistical departments generally do not include new scrap aluminum in the scope of scrap aluminum statistics.

Old scrap aluminum refers to the scrap aluminum and aluminum parts purchased from society, which is the waste aluminum generated in daily life, including old aluminum doors and windows, aluminum parts in scrapped cars and machinery, aluminum conductors and aluminum metal parts in scrapped power grids, etc.

Narrowly defined scrap aluminum refers to old scrap aluminum, which is also commonly referred to as scrap aluminum or scrap aluminum. Most of them can be directly transported to downstream aluminum processing industries for the production of aluminum profiles or alloys, or returned to aluminum casting plants to be manufactured into aluminum ingots.