Of the many things that can be recycled, aluminum is one of the most important.  The process of refining and producing aluminum from bauxite (raw ore) to finished products is extremely energy intensive.  While much of the US aluminum production is done in the pacific north west, where there is plentiful electricity from hydroelectric (renewable) sources, that use soaks up energy that could be instead sold to cities (across the grid) in places that do not have hydroelectic sources.  Excess use anywhere is simply excess use.

Recycling aluminum represents a savings of 96% of the energy that would be required to smelt an equivalent amount of new aluminum.  As the price of CO2 emissions is brought into the economic equation, from an externalized to an internalized cost, the price of aluminum products will rise substantially and recycling will become more and more attractive.  But for those farsighted individuals concerned now with averting the consequences of our unrestrained energy waste and CO2 emissions, recycling ALL aluminum is a ‘low hanging fruit’.