Now I'm curious where that recycled aluminium is coming from? My guess would be mostly from airplanes and beverage cans...
Re:Breaking Superconductor News
by tonyarkles on Thursday July 27, 2023 @09:02AM
(#36892782)
Engine blocks too. If you go to a scrap yard though you’ll be pretty amazed at all of the stuff they’ve got collected and sorted. Metal recycling (compared to, say, electronics recycling or plastic recycling) has a very clear economic model and financial incentives. If you’re demolishing a building or scrapping old machinery it will cost significantly less to recycle the metal (because you get paid decently by the pound) than to take it to a landfill (where you pay by the pound instead).
Re:Breaking Superconductor News
by iancmceachern on Friday July 28, 2023 @12:57AM
(#36903230)
Cars too
The economy sort of has a "working capital" quantum of aluminium which also grows steadily from aluminium mining.
Lots of metals have very different and complex supply structures and thus completely different $$$ / volume curves for their supply.
Understanding the $$$ / volume curve of commodities is not something that is commonly considered when people try and predict the future. Mining a billion tonnes of Aluminium from an asteroid for example and safely landing it on Earth can never be profitable because the $$$ / volume curve for Aluminium is $0.00 at billion tonne volume.