From Auburn to Elkhart...
Aluminum is vital to Indiana’s economy. In fact, the Hoosier State is home to the second highest number of per capita aluminum jobs in the country. Indiana is home to one of America’s last large-scale aluminum smelters along with aluminum recyclers and companies that produce high-quality aluminum coil and aluminum-lithium alloys critical to the aerospace industry.
Over the past decade, the aluminum industry has invested more than $11 billion in American manufacturing to meet growing demand for the metal. Today, the aluminum industry directly employs more than 164,000 U.S. workers and indirectly supports an additional half million jobs across the country.
Each year in Indiana, the aluminum industry creates:
42k+
Total Local Jobs
$3.3 B
In Wages & Benefits
$15.3 B
In Economic Output
When Indiana recovers aluminum, the whole state wins.
Aluminum is used in everyday items like beverage cans and smartphones -- and strategic products like fighter jets, tanks and satellites. And more than ever, the industry relies on scrap aluminum to make the industry go.
Today, fully 85% of the aluminum made in the United States is “secondary” aluminum that uses recycled scrap as a main material input. Yet, each year, Americans send more than $1 billion worth of aluminum to the landfill. When we throw away aluminum -- or export it away -- we're wasting a material critical to the economy and our national security.
Recycling aluminum scrap takes only about 5% of the energy needed to make new, or primary, metal. If America recovered and recycled all the scrap it currently exports or sends to landfills, we could power some 5 million homes with the energy saved -- more than all the homes in Indiana.
During a time of high energy prices and record demand on the electric grid, tossing or exporting our aluminum hurts us all. Saving energy means saving cash.
Aluminum scrap is a strategic national asset. Exporting it undermines U.S. supply chains while strengthening countries like China and Russia who don’t play by the same rules. Targeted scrap export controls will support American manufacturing, reduce reliance on foreign metal imports and combat efforts by China to corner the global aluminum recycling market. Learn more about common sense national policies needed to maintain American competitiveness.
Local Voices for Aluminum
“Alcoa Warrick Operations in Newburgh is the only primary aluminum smelter in Indiana and is one of four remaining operating aluminum smelters in the United States. The aluminum made at the facility is crucial not only for Indiana, but for the entire country, as the miracle metal is used in transportation, construction, defense and food industries”
Louis-Pierre Clément, Plant Manager at Alcoa Warrick Operations
"A lot of the name brands you see in food and beverage, their aluminum packaging originates here in Warrick, Indiana. I believe aluminum is a superior packaging. It is infinitely recyclable and a much more environmentally friendly product to transport and put into everyday life. Here at Warrick it is so vitally important to this tri-state region."
Joe Pampinto, Warrick Plant Manager, Kaiser Aluminum
Aluminum in Action
Aluminum is often rolled into sheet products for use in packaging, transportation, aerospace and more.
The aluminum industry directly employs more than 164,000 American workers and indirectly supports an additional 500,000+ jobs.
Aluminum scrap is an essential input that helps make the products Americans rely upon. Recycling aluminum takes just 5% of the energy needed to make new aluminum.