Recycling Metals Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

Give two economic advantages of recycling metals rather than extracting them from ores.

It uses less energy (less electricity/fuel) and preserves finite ore reserves for future use.

Give two environmental advantages of recycling metals.

Less fossil fuel burned so less carbon dioxide emitted; less mining waste and landfill, and less habitat loss, noise and dust from mining.

Why is recycling aluminium especially worthwhile?

Aluminium is extracted by electrolysis, which uses a great deal of electricity, so recycling saves much more energy.

True or false? Metal ores are a finite resource.

True. Ores cannot be replaced once used, so recycling preserves the supply of valuable raw materials.

True or false? Recycling a metal always uses no energy at all.

False. Energy is still needed to collect, sort and melt the metal, but usually much less than extraction from ore.