Japanese Al Can Recycling Rate Marks Record 93.4% in F2009

Japanese beverage aluminium can recycling rate marked record 93.4% in fiscal 2009 ended in March 2010, announced Japan Aluminum Can Recycling Association on Thursday. The recycling rate exceeded previous record 92.7% in fiscal 2007 and rebounded by 6.1 percentage points from fiscal 2008.

Used beverage can inventory became surplus against the demand after global economic deterioration in 2008 while the inventory adjustment progressed in the first half of 2009. In addition, in mid 2009, aluminium can demand turned to recover. Consequently, material overstock was eliminated.

On the other hand, closed recycling rate, called “can-to-can recycling rate,” lowered by 4.3 percentage points to 62.5% in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 due to increasing consumption of used beverage can for applications other than can materials.

Aluminium can consumption totaled 292,897 tonnes (18.24 billion cans) in fiscal 2009, decreasing by 2.1% from 299,319 tonnes (18.43 billion cans) in fiscal 2008. Less can consumption also contributed to high recycling rate.