2019 Recycling Industry Yearbook

Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. 26 U.S. ALUMINUM SCRAP EXPORTS 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 1,400,000 1,600,000 1,800,000 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Rest of World Taiwan Indonesia Canada Mexico Malaysia India South Korea China metric tons The United States exported 1.8 million mt of aluminum scrap in 2018. Even though U.S. aluminum scrap exports to China declined 39% by volume, developing markets including Malaysia, India, and Indonesia ramped up their purchases. The result was that U.S. aluminum scrap exports increased 12% from 2017 to 2018. China and Hong Kong remained a destination for 32.5% of U.S. scrap aluminum exports in 2018, down from 56% in 2017. Source: U.S. Census Bureau/U.S. International Trade Commission It takes a little as 60 days for an aluminum can to go from the recycling bin back to a grocery shelf. Sources: Aluminum Association, USGS, Census Bureau, ISRI estimates