Environmental Issues

The aluminum industry has strategically administered its pollution-control efforts to prevent, rather than passively respond to, environmental issues. The track record is one that brings us great pride. Part of the success of the aluminum industry comes from its promotion of energy conservation and effective waste reduction within the industry. Today, aluminum is the most commonly recycled metal in the world.

Many of the nation's environmental issues are also of key importance to the aluminum industry and its constituents—the public, government and regulatory agencies, and the research and academic communities.

Promotion of environmental protection within the industry includes the Association’s workshops and membership meetings to assist in regulatory compliance, in addition to proactive voluntary emission-reduction programs and research programs to advance environmental performance in the industry. Two key projects include the Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Partnership (VAIP) program with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pollution Prevention program.

Nearly the entire U.S. aluminum industry is working to reduce perfluorocarbon (PFC) emissions from aluminum smelting, and VAIP is leading the way. The VAIP program has reduced U.S. PFC emissions from aluminum smelting by well over 50 percent from 1990 levels. President Bush recognized the industry in his 2002 White House Climate Change Report, and the EPA awarded the Association and participating companies the 2002 Climate Change Award.

To learn more about the VAIP program, visit the Environmental Protection Agency's web site.

Other areas of focus for the industry include reducing air emissions, water discharges, and solid waste. Primary plants operate air-pollution equipment that captures pollutants and recycles raw materials, and industry furnaces are continually reducing the amount of chlorine gas used.

Many of the Aluminum Association's member companies have been recognized for superior environmental performance due to their reduction of waste, recovery of discarded materials, and other process enhancements. In addition, many of our companies participated in the EPA's 33/50 program to reduce toxic air pollutants and are actively involved with other EPA-sponsored pollution prevention programs, such as Green Lights and Waste Wise.

MACT 2 OM and M (Microsoft Word Document)
Shredding Unit (Microsoft Word Document)

Aluminum Now Feature on Secondary MACT