Japan aluminium can recycle rate rises to 80.6 pct

TOKYO - Japan recycled 214,107 tonnes of used aluminium cans in the year to March 31, 2001 - or 80.6 percent of all aluminium cans bought in Japan in the same period, an industry survey showed on Friday. Of that total, 159,485 tonnes, or 74.5 percent, were used to make new aluminium cans and the remainder to produce die-castings and other products, the Japan Aluminium Can Recycling Association said. The recycling rate for 2000/01 was 2.1 percent higher than the previous year, in line with a steady increase over the past decade, the association said. Aluminium cans are the most expensive and the most recycled beverage container in Japan. The association said reusing aluminium saves some 97 percent of the energy used to make the metal from raw materials. In the United States, 62 percent of used aluminium cans were recycled in 2000, while in western Europe the recycle rate reached 43 percent last year, the association said. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE