• Question: What is the most sustainable metal?

    Asked by flissboo to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Difficult to say – metals are used for different things, so we often can’t choose which to use. Aluminium is often difficult to refine as it needs a lot of energy to make, but you can get around this by putting aluminium extraction plants next to renewable energy sources like dams or geothermal sources. However, once you’ve extracted it you can recycle and reuse it – two thirds of aluminium once dug up is still being used today.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      That’s a great question, I’ve never really thought about which one is the most sustainable (there are a lot!). I used to be a metal explorer in Australia – lookng for rocks which have a lot of iron and aluminium and copper mostly. There is a lot of both sitting in the ground in special places around the world, but as Sam says, it can take a lot of energy to get it out of the rocks. Aluminium doesn’t rust like iron or copper, so I guess from a “which metals lasts the longest” point of view, aluminium wins!

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