Aluminium can be recovered from many consumer goods at the end of its life. For example aluminium from the e-waste generated from mobile phones can be recycled and reused without any loss of properties.
Mobile phones need a larger battery capacity for better battery life. These batteries are heavy, and a heavy battery and hulking body would make the mobile phones inconvenient to carry around, so lightweight aluminium is used.
Aluminium can be easily formed into various shapes and sizes to make the technologies we use today aesthetically appealing. Aluminium combines beauty and practicality which defines its success in this industry. Gadgets made from aluminium look sophisticated and reliable while remaining light and robust. Tablet PCs, flat-screen TVs, sporting equipment, furniture, coffee machines and many other products and gadgets we use in our everyday lives contain aluminium.
The aluminium industry directly employs around 20,000 people and puts food on the table for around 60,000 families – mostly in Australia's regional locations.
More than $15B in export earnings across bauxite, alumina and aluminium every year. Aluminium is Australia's largest manufacturing export.
From bauxite mines, alumina refineries, aluminium smelters and downstream manufacturers through to market, Australia can do it all. Aluminium is one of the few products mined, refined, smelted, extruded and distributed right here in Australia - going through more than 5 sets of Australian hands before it ends up in homes and businesses around the world.
The Australian Aluminium Council is the peak industry association representing the Australian aluminium industry from mine to market.
