Decomposition of aluminium

Aluminium cans can take up to 500 years to break down. The rate of break-down depends on the decomposition environment. For example, the aluminium cans may decay in about 80 to 100 years when put in sea water. Aluminium cans can be recycled into cans, plates and many other articles.

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Retired mobile phones mean ‘gold’ gone wasted

The average mobile phone contains about 24 mg of gold. Gold does not corrodeĀ and therefore, is a good transmitter of small amounts of currents in the mobile phone. It is estimated that in the United States alone, 130 million mobile phones are retired every year. Recycling these alone would yield about 3.4 metric tons of gold.

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