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Sunday, August 26, 2007

Don't Miss The Processes

Original posted by teiranho

There is two things which usually we call it with BECAUSE and CAUSE. Humans tried to get perfection, like; success, win, strong, etc.. But there is an antonim, like; fail, lose, weak, etc.. Majority, humans see only for a while about the PROCESS. PROCESS just looks like a luck. But the reality, if we want to win, we must be losed for any time.


The founded, humans are the same. We can sad, glad, eat, drink, etc.. The different is only the way of think and act.. Thats make the differencess of "CAUSED" and "CONDITION".

As example from that things : if we eat, we are not hungry anymore ; if we correct in answering the exam, we will get mark ; etc.. But we less in looking to the PROCESS, like : we eat using a spoon and entering foods into mouth, etc..

Don't you try to avoid the PROCESS. You must be talk about your own plan. Forget your own past because is not important for you to tell it to anyone. Imagine some big things and tell it to friends not just an old stories.

How important is that PROCESS? With knowing a PROCESS, we can realize that everything in this world posible to be done. Every person is a champion since not to be humans yet. Because sperm which done in sex is the best sperm from the million other sperm.

The question is would you said as a champion? Don't doubt to something, trusted that things can be done. Don't doubt to do a PROCESS for getting something good. Be the champion...!

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Monday, August 20, 2007

The Steel Advantage

Strength of Steel - Steel is one of the strongest building materials available and is used to fasten and support traditional timber built frames. The additional strength of a frame built entirely of steel means all SHF built houses carry extra strength and durability.

In addition to the strength of steel, the fact that steel won’t burn or rot or shrink in the way that timber can is another major benefit.

Durability of Steel - SHF frames offer you a lifetime’s protection against your house frame being eaten by termites and borers. This inbuilt protection gives you peace of mind against the hidden invaders that can destroy your precious investment. Perhaps the most significant difference between these steel frames and other house frames is that all SHF frames are backed by a 50 year warranty.

Invest in the Future - The strength and durability of steel is now widely recognized in the housing market. You can be sure that a home built with a SHF steel frame is an investment that will continue to increase in value throughout its life. The continued growth of the steel frame house market and the advancements in engineering technology make steel the house frame of the future, and a smart investment for the home owner.









On Site Construction

Specially trained and qualified SHF supervised teams erect the frames on site. The result is faster, hassle free construction to pre-set SHF standards and a quality frame that is complete and ready for the builders to start work on straight away.















Termites are the biggest enemy of conventional timber framed houses. Steel frames are 100% termite resistant and cannot be burnt by fire, rot or shrink in the way timber can.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Some more pictures showing construction:















Part of the frames and the trusses delivered to the building site. The constructors get wall plans and roof plans showing each wall and truss numbered.

















Walls are connected to each other with self drilling screws. Double studs at the intersections are in the walls provided for fixing the internal lining.
Bay windows and arch windows are no problem. They are all pre-fabricated to precision.
The external walls and internal structural walls are fixed to the concrete with chemical anchors or expansion bolts and cyclone washers. The holes for the bolts are already pre-drilled in the frames.

Other walls can be fixed to the floor using suitable hand-held or explosively fired nails or other masonry anchors.


















Each joist has its own number in accordance with the plans.

The joists are fitted to the wall below with cyclone brackets and bolts. All the holes are pre-punched. This insures a fast installation and eliminates guesswork. The open web design allows an easy installation of the waste pipes. Bathroom floors can be stepped-down.














The external and internal structural walls of the upper floor are fixed to the floor joists with bolts and cyclone washers. All the holes in the frames are pre-punched at the exact location.




After the walls are up the trusses can be put in place and fixed to the walls below with cyclone brackets, washers and bolts. All the holes have been pre-punched at their exact location.
This system is also very suitable and economical for:
  • Schools
  • Hospitals
  • Army barracks
  • Relocatable houses
  • Small shops
  • Garages and storage sheds
  • Small factories
  • Steel trusses for apartment buildings
  • Partitioning for apartment buildings (residential and commercial)
  • Extensions to existing buildings
  • Framework for signage

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Easy construction of a house using light weight steel frames

2 men can erect an average steel framed house of 150 m2 in 2 – 3 days






Day one.

At 7 o'clock in the morning the house is set out according the plans.










Once the walls have been set out and checked carefully that everything is square, the steel wall frames, which are all clearly numbered in accordance with the plans, are brought into place.






The steel walls are set up and connected to each other with self drilling screws.

Where indicated the outside walls and bracing walls are fixed to the concrete slab with chemical anchors or exspansion bolts all in accordance with engineering specifications.

The holes for the bolts are already pre-punched in the frames.


Day two.

The steel roof trusses can be installed.
Depending how complicated the roof is, this work can be done 1 or 2 days.







Day 3.

After 2 or 3 days the 2 men have finished their job and other trades people can start to install the gutters, bring on the roofing and place windows and external doors.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Inside Steel House Frames

Steel House Frames Australia are one of the leading manufacturers of steel house frames in Australia.


The company has been at the leading edge of the new technology that has seen steel house frames grow to become the preferred building method for more than 10% of the Australian housing market.

With a building system which is unequalled in the steel house frame industry, SHF provide builders with trouble free precision engineered steel frames that ensures the house goes up perfectly and stays up. Rock solid.

The outstanding success of SHF has seen the company grow from 12 staff in 1995 to over 150 staff and last year SHF produced 1,200 house frames.
Planning to Installation
Precision Engineering
The science of steel house frames is technically advanced and extremely precise.
All components of the frame are engineered to exact dimensions by a fully computerised system that leaves nothing to chance.
This means that every SHF is incredibly straight, square and true, result in a better fit for doors and windows.
Quality for Life
Built to last SHF frames are designed for maximum strength and can be engineered to withstand cyclonic conditions. An SHF frame will always remain as strong as the day it was erected. The high tensile, galvanised or ZINCALUME® Steel surpasses all the Australian Standards, and will not suffer from the problems associated with old-fashioned building methods, such as shrinkage, warping, rotting and termite damage.
Better by Design
The tremendous design flexibility of modern steel frame homes takes many architects and builders by surprise. There is no limit to the different styles of homes that SHF have produced. From three storey townhouses to a huge colonial home on a sloping block, or a cost efficient family home in suburbia, the SHF system offers architects and builders unsurpassed flexibility in design and construction.
SHF steel frames and trusses can be produced from plans already drawn and approved in traditional timber. The ability to build almost any structure has seen the SHF system employed in the building of large commercial buildings, Retirement Villages and Child Care Centres.

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Steel House Frames





I. Steel is the best performer as a building product in strength/weight ratio.

We use BHP G550 high tensile steel especially recommended for earthquake and cyclone effected areas. Most suppliers in the USA use a softer steel, which is less strong.

For a lifetime lasting quality the material is galvanized or Zincalume® coated.

Because high tensile steel is light:

a. Foundations can be lighter
b. Less weight means less movement
c. No heavy lifting equipment required
d. Lighter transport trucks
e. Easier access to soft soil sites

II. Quality control.
Steel is a manufactured product with excellent quality control.
No messing and mixing like concrete, where you can’t see the quality anymore when it has been poured. No drying time.
No quality differences like timber with knots and differend growth areas etc.
With steel walls will be straight and true.

III. Economic building system.

The frame building system is much faster than the brick on brick construction method.
Two men can erect an average house with pre-assembled walls and trusses in 2 - 3 days. The building is than ready to be roofed.
Minimum loss of time due to bad weather.

IV. Superior energy efficiency.

The walls can be filled with purposed designed insulation material, which has superior insulation capabilities over masonry and other building materials.

This has besides economical advantages also ecological advantages.
Less fuel is needed for cooling and heating of the house, which reduces the CO2 emission + savings in heating and cooling costs.


The best materials and the most advanced manufacturing system

High tensile G550 steel

A lot of manufacturers especially in America use mild steel. We wanted a stronger steel.
G550 high tensile steel is rather unique material. We have selected it for its superior strength compared with other steel commonly used.
This material
is especially recommended for cyclonic and earthquakefor effected areas. It can be designed for seismic zone 4.

Most advanced computerized manufacturing

An especially developed software package is used for the fully computerized design and integrated manufacturing system.

No need anymore to feed a steel list again into the rollformer data program . This eliminates mistakes.
All components are engineered to exact dimension, which results in an extraordinary straight and true product.

This means a faster and easier house construction.




The linked-up computerized rollformers cut all components to exact size, punch the holes for screws and service lines.

A laser yet printer prints job and part number on the members in accordance with the plans.





Each steel wall, steel floor joist and steel truss has its own plan with all the numbers on it in accordance with the numbers on the components.

This ensures an easy and fast assembling of steel frames, trusses and the steel floor elements.

No skilled labour is required for assembling.

V. Flexibility in design and finish

You are free in selecting your own design.

You are not restricted to our designs or standard panels and modules .

It is also very easy to make alterations or extensions at a later stage.

Because the steel frames of the external walls form the actual structural part of the building, you can finish the walls using all sorts of materials.

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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Human Concept About Learning

Original Posted by teiranho

Now, we already in INFORMATION ERA which started in 1989. In that moment, Berlin's Wall had collapse also not validated INDUSTRIAL ERA changed into that new ERA.

In this ERA, we needs concept or leverage for qualified life guarantee. But the reality, most of us not realize that yet, and because of that, we feels worried and confused to our life-process.



We needs principal or information for prepared everything in our life. Below is one from many principals or informations that I write to they whose needed.

This Learning Concept is for generaly not specifically. We faced on an individual that have four things in Learning, there are :
1. MENTAL : If we learn a specific skill like ; mastering in operating computer, well-driving, good in playing football, well-know about car's mechanic, and many more. Life is never changed if we depend on this learning but we still need skill and don't too focus on it.
2. EMOTIONAL : We have feeling and we can category that into ; Positive Feelings and Negative Feeling. Negative Feelings refer to ; affraid at risk, give up to destiny, depression, things seeing badly, etc.. Positive Feeling refer to ; confidence, never give up, teachable, focus in solutions not problems, things seeing nicely, etc..
3. PHYSIC : The foundation of learning process. In this case is action, and visualisation. That is first seeing in relationship with the others. Two comments about physical communication :
a. Nice-look but have bad thinks behind.
b. Action is bored but found kindness at later.
4. SPIRITUAL : The main point from this thing is faith. We must have our own dreams and not depending to the others. We must have our own principals and be sure to our own dreams coming true. Planning to a big thing, and looking for informations or leverages to prove that.

I finish my write, and keep looking for informations. Be the Leaders on yourself.

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Saturday, August 4, 2007

Re-roofing America's homes with metal


By Jim Austin, senior editor
The definition of insanity, according to Ben Franklin, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. And while most homeowners probably don’t expect their asphalt shingles to last forever, they keep putting them on their homes with the hope they won’t have to re-roof again. It’s almost sad, isn’t it?
One could argue the only sane residential re-roofing option is metal. You can certainly expect different — and much better — results with a quality re-roofing installation of a metal system.
Installers from across the U.S. are employing this strategy to achieve success. It’s not easy, but it’s better than the cycle of insanity.
Keep talking about metal
Wayne Stanik, president of Lifetime Shingles with offices in Marshfield, Wis., and Jordan, Minn., installs stone-coated steel shingles from Metro Roof Products. He started his metal roofing career installing MetalWorks shingles (now owned by TAMKO Building Products) before discovering stone-coated steel. He calls himself a “displaced farm boy” who has been installing metal roofing systems for 9-1/2 years.
“It was not my goal in life to be a roofer,” he says. “And it took me awhile to figure out how to sell it, especially when I was the only one out there with it. Now, more people are putting on steel roofs, so it’s easier to sell the product and sell people on the product.”
The average customer understands more about metal roofing than customers 10 years ago, but not enough to make a decision without being sold. Stanik says, “It’s getting better, but we’ve just scratched the surface. The more people we can get talking about steel, the more customers will think about steel. To me, it seems like a no-brainer. I won’t put asphalt shingles on a roof. I believe if people become educated on metal roofing, there’s no way they’d put anything else on.”
Many installers feel the same way, but educating customers is time-consuming. Some customers aren’t looking to be educated.
It’s been Stanik’s experience that home-owners looking to replace their roof with a check they got from an insurance company following a storm are not the best customer leads. “Those are people that generally weren’t thinking about roofing when their roof was damaged and they’re probably only willing to spend what the insurance company paid out,” he says.
Many of Stanik’s customers come from leads through the Metal Roofing Alliance — he answers every lead with at least an e-mail. He works Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Iowa. The two biggest residential re-roofing jobs were in North Dakota — one was 140 squares and the other 126 squares.
Those are not typical jobs for Lifetime Shingles. Stanik was as excited to talk about a roof he sold last summer — to a 94-year-old man in rural Wisconsin. “He saw the value in it and was happy to pay for it,” Stanik says. “His daughter will get the house someday, and obviously she’ll benefit more than he will, but it made sense to him.”
Consumers feel there is safety and strength in numbers. In other words, if someone else bought one, on some level, it must make sense. The installation of the roof on the home of the 94-year-old customer led to the sale of another roof in the same neighborhood — people are always curious about what their neighbors are doing and maybe how much they’re spending — it’s human nature. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk to those people. “A lot of people stop by to see what their neighbors are doing and they’ll ask questions,” Stanik says. “I always take the time to talk to them.”
Like most roofers, Stanik has seen a lot — maybe not everything, but a lot. Many of the homes he re-roofs are less than 10-years-old. He recently put a new Metro roof on a home in Milwaukee — the 4-year-old shingle (which was advertised as a 45-year shingle) was curling and had “pock marks” all over, about the size of a quarter or larger. Stanik says it was simply a failure, not damage caused by hail or some other phenomena. “Did he plan on putting a new roof on his house in four years? No way,” Stanik says. “He thought he bought a 45-year shingle.”
He’s got one now!
Stanik is a believer in generating discussion about metal roofing — any way possible. “The first guy to put a saddle on a horse and tell his friends this was the new way to get around instead of walking was probably laughed at,” Stanik says. “Most probably thought it was a harebrained idea. It’s the same thing with steel roofing. I’ve run into customers who have had friends try to talk them out of it. We just have to get everybody talking about it, learning about it and understanding it.”
Stanik believes it’s relatively easy to find customers who have had bad experiences with asphalt shingles and that they make good customers. They should be looking for a better alternative, even if they have to pay more for it. “You hope you can find the switch to make the light go on,” he says, but warns against pre-judging customers by how much money they appear to have when you’re looking for that switch. “Money really doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Stanik says. “There are people who have money who won’t spend it and there are people who don’t have money, but see the value and will get the money to invest.
“When I got the call from the 94-year-old guy, I wasn’t jumping up and down to get over there. I was extremely busy and figured the price would scare him away. But it’s people like that — it’s very gratifying to do their roofs. They’re always happy when it’s done.”
Provide quality to ensure satisfied customers
Residential re-roofing is something Terry Lamb of Sunshine Metal Works in Anniston, Ala., can talk about all day. “It’s all I do,” he says. “I’ve carved out a comfortable niche for myself. I like dealing with people eyeball to eyeball. I like to see the fruits of my labor and the satisfaction of my customers.”
Lamb installs products from Classic Metal Roofing Systems, Metro Roof Products, Arrowline and McElroy Metal. He says he is successful in his four-state area because of the quality of work he does. “Nine out of 10 roofers are jacklegs,” he says. “They’re not licensed and they do substandard work. They don’t want a relationship. They’re just looking for a payday.”
Lamb works leads hard, cultivating a relationship and staying in touch with those customers after the jobs are completed. “They like to know you’re still around,” he says. “No one else out there is doing that.”
Lamb’s customers, on average, are over 50-years-old. “They’re toward the end of their careers and they’re cash-paying customers,” he says. “I had one customer ask for a $75,000 roof and they were paying in cash.”The worst thing that’s happened to Lamb is the drought that has settled in the Southeast. “I’d like to keep guys working,” he says. “People aren’t looking for a new roof. If it’s not raining people don’t know about their leaks.”
Larry Lake of Lake Metal Roofs in Fayetteville, Ga., likes to talk to all of his customers face to face, let them know they are a priority to his business. Lake works a seven-state area in the Southeast, installing stone-coated metal roofing systems from Metro Roof Products and Gerard Roofing Technologies, along with some standing seam products from Fabral, McElroy Metal and Wheeling Corrugating.
His wife Linda and sons Justin and Andrew are key to the success of the operation. “We do some light commercial, churches, motels and condominiums, but we don’t go after projects with huge GCs. We’re not going into a planning room and bidding on jobs. We’re just not going to deal with a GC who may or may not pay his bills. Projects like that have put a lot of people out of business.”
Lake’s idea of doing business is looking his customer in the eye, telling that customer what his company can do, and then seeing the satisfaction when the job is completed. “It’s about relationship building with people,” he says. “If you deliver a quality product and a quality installation, you don’t have to put up with too many problems. That’s what keeps it interesting and fun. Every customer is different.”
Lake’s customers generally are middle-aged — the empty nesters. They’ve worked hard to take care of a family and their home. They realize the value of investment grade roofing for their homes. “Young families, in our market, are generally buying a home to be a stepping stone to another home. It’s not a priority to invest in that first home, so they’re not in the market for a metal roof.”
Lake Metal Roofs installs mostly on high-end homes. Those customers generally can afford metal, so Lake’s customers pay cash. “If they want to finance, we usually don’t go after them,” he says.Lake says he offers the kind of quality product and installation interested customers sell themselves. “With us, they can verify the quality of work we do with any of our former customers,” he says. “And we encourage them to talk to our former customers. They’re going to spend $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000 on a new roof; it’s the second or third largest purchase they’re going to make. They feel more comfortable knowing others made the same decision and are happy with it.”
Lake believes the biggest hurdle is still the customer’s lack of knowledge about the benefits of metal. “It’s still all about educating the customer,” he says. “People still like to put money into bathrooms and kitchens, not roofs.”So keep talking about the benefits of metal roofing. There’s a lot of educating to be done.
Customers have specific needs
Paul Lacinak of Factory Direct Installations, headquartered in New Orleans, refers to himself as an “old siding guy.” He understands the mindset of residential customers, so Factory Direct has successfully worked its way into New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. After beating the market over the head with local television commercials, it sinks in and Factory Direct experiences a boom. Factory Direct hires subcontractors for its installs.
“That’s the scoop here. It takes about three years to educate people on all the benefits of metal roofing,” Lacinak says. “We pump it out there for three years on TV. At about three years, the growth takes off. The first three years are tough.” It wasn’t always easy to keep the faith, especially when it takes years and your initial market (New Orleans) is “in the poorest state in the union and the average annual income is about $25,000,” Lacinak says.Factory Direct finances about 85 percent of its projects, with the term of loans ranging from one to 25 years. “It’s like a high-end auto dealership,” Lacinak says. “If you were selling Cadillacs for cash only, you might sell enough to keep the doors open, but when you sell them for $599 a month, they’ll roll out the door all day long.”
Every home needs a roof, whether it’s a temporary asphalt shingle or a metal roof. Lacinak says in his markets, it’s almost impossible for re-roofing residential customers to get a home improvement loan for an asphalt roof. “Most banks don’t want to finance asphalt shingles because once they start to curl up, crack and look bad, the payments start falling off,” he says.Factory Direct got into the residential re-roofing world in 1996, installing its exclusive product from Classic Metal Roofing Systems. It’s similar to Classic’s Rustic Shake; it’s the same size shingle but it doesn’t have pre-punched nail holes. The profile, called DL-40 Plus, is installed with clips so the installer can use as many clips as needed to achieve the necessary wind uplift certification — an important consideration in the Southeast where hurricanes are a part of every summer.
Narrowing the gap in initial cost
In every market, there are ways to push customers’ buttons. Metal costs more than asphalt shingles. How can you narrow the initial cost gap between metal and asphalt?
Steve Struensee, owner of Custom Metal Roofing in Oshkosh, Wis., installs standing seam roofing he runs off his New Tech Machinery roll formers and metal shingles from Gerard Roofing Technologies on homes throughout the Midwest and in Florida through a branch office. “We do some commercial and new construction, but 90 percent of what we do is residential re-roofing,” he says. “It seems to be taking off because of the cost of ripping off the old roof. The cost of putting a metal roof over the top of an asphalt shingle is getting closer to the cost of tearing off a couple layers of asphalt shingles and installing new asphalt shingles. So we’re not ripping it off.
Standing seam and the Gerard product go right over the top of the old roof.”Struensee covers a lot of territory to sell metal roofing — he’s got more than 80,000 miles on his year-old truck. It’s still challenging finding the right customer, the customer that appreciates and is willing to pay for the value of a lifetime roofing system. He says many of his customers are looking to put one final roof on second homes, homes they’re going to pass on to the next generation of their family.
Those homes — usually located back in the woods near a lake — are nice projects and usually look great in a brochure. Struensee prefers installing metal roofing on homes in a busy residential area. “People buy what they see,” he says. “When you’re installing roofs back in the woods, you don’t get many leads from that. Some jobs located on a busy street, we can get 10 more jobs off of that.”
If that’s where you can make your money, those are valuable leads. Odds are someone else in that neighborhood is in the market for a new roof. They should want you to install a metal roof.
Seeing the light
Jack Gugger of Gutter Home Improvements in Madison, Wis., was lured into the metal roofing industry. A little lure got him to jump in with both feet.
In early 2006, he received a package in the mail from Classic Metal Roof Systems of Piqua, Ohio. The package contained an iPod, a nice iPod, with a video presentation on Classic’s product line. It concluded with an invitation to a Florida meeting from Classic president Todd Miller to learn more about becoming a Classic installer.
“I was there about 15 minutes and I was hooked,” Gugger says. “I’ve been in the home improvement industry for 17 years and I didn’t have any idea of how big the swell was in the metal roofing business. I took the family to Florida with the idea there was no way I was going to be a roofer. I left Florida a roofer.”
So now Jack Gugger is a metal roofing installer, having completed more than 20 residential re-roofing projects since signing on with Classic and joining the Metal Roofing Alliance in March 2006. He is excited about the possibilities in southern Wisconsin.
“We’re kind of the pioneers for metal roofing in our neighborhood,” Gugger says. “We’re just getting started, but it’s exciting.” Gugger believes residential roofers, like many in the construction or home improvement industries, are creatures of habit: Installers are having a tough time finding a reason to change over to metal after years of installing asphalt shingles for re-roofing projects.
Gugger’s customers for metal re-roofing projects are “predominantly on the north side of 60,” he says. He believes they’ve got money and have experienced the hassle and cost of as many as or more than three re-roofs on their home or homes during their lifetimes. They’re going to do it with metal and not worry about it anymore.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the biggest challenge Gugger faces is educating the customer. Thanks in part to the MRA, the word is getting out about “investment grade roofing” for re-roofing residential projects. Because various products can range greatly in price, the installer has to deal with handling the sticker shock of some customers.
“The biggest challenge is getting people to understand the value of metal roofing,” Gugger says. “The price ticket can be higher than they can stomach. We’re getting tons of leads. Everybody wants a metal roof, but the price is scaring some of them.”
Gugger wanted to grow his home improvement business, expand to different parts of the Badger state and beyond to other parts of the Midwest. “I wanted to build a business I could expand,” he says. “But there are too many variables in home improvement. I’ve been trying to grow our window and siding business for about four years now, but we can’t break through. There’s so much competition we were beating our heads against the wall.”Gugger believes metal roofing is what takes his company to the next level.
“The metal roofing industry found me at just the right time,” Gugger says.And the metal roofing industry, specifically the residential re-roofing market, is looking for more quality installers all the time. The demand is there, so keep talking.

Read More......

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Story of Aluminium

Global society faces a great challenge to shift human economic activity and lifestyles on to a sustainable path in the 21st century, including meeting threats from climate change. The story of the aluminium industry over the decades ahead must be one of how it is part of the solution for a sustainable future.
This century began with an estimated 6 billion people on the planet, up six-fold in just 200 years from 1 billion in the year 1800. The United Nations currently expects global population to peak around 2050 at about 9 billion.



The sustainability challenge shared by all nations, industries and communities is to provide not only for the basic needs of all of these people, but to meet their expectations for improving quality of life. Crucially, this socio-economic progress must be achieved while ensuring that the natural environment remains ecologically viable and able to meet the needs of future generations as well as current ones.

The products of human ingenuity, including industrial creations such as the versatile metal aluminium, have a vital role to play in successfully addressing this sustainability challenge. To do its part, the aluminium industry needs to minimize environmental, social and economic negatives and maximize the positives across its life-cycle – from pre-mining to post-consumer stages - delivering a clear net benefit to society.

Why Aluminium?
The demand for aluminium products is increasing year by year, so why is aluminium a metal in such demand and what is its role in the lives of future generations?


Aluminium is a young material, and in the little more than a century since its first commercial production, it has become the world’s second most used metal after steel. Aluminium is the metal of choice for leading designers, architects and engineers, all of whom are looking for a material which combines functionality and cost-effectiveness with forward looking form and design potential.

Aluminium is an extraordinarily versatile material. The range of forms it can take (castings, extrusions and tubes, sheet & plate, foil, powder, forgings etc) and variety of surface finishes available (coatings, anodizing, polishing etc) means it lends itself to a wide range of products, many of which we use every day of our lives.

As well as its versatile form, the metal’s light weight (33% that of steel) and numerous material qualities – represented by a wide range of alloys – mean that products have been designed for use in all areas of modern life. It is a good conductor of electricity (one kilogram of aluminium cable can carry twice as much electricity as one kilogram of copper) and most overhead and many underground transmission lines are made of aluminium. It transmits conducted heat and reflects radiant heat, making it an excellent medium from which to produce cooking utensils and foils, radiators and building insulation. Its strength, combined with low density, make it ideal for transport and packaging applications. Aluminium is a unique metal: strong, durable, flexible, impermeable, lightweight, corrosion-resistant and 100 percent recyclable.

Aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust and constitutes 7.3% by mass. In nature however it only exists in very stable combinations with other materials (particularly as silicates and oxides). While there were some historical mentions of aluminium use, it was not until 1808 that its existence was first established. It then took many years of painstaking research to "unlock" the metal from its ore - the hard, reddish and clay-like bauxite. Further years of experimentation finally, in 1854, saw the development of a viable, commercial production process.

Aluminium is a young metal, having only been produced commercially for 153 years. Despite the fact that copper, lead and tin have been in use for thousands of years, today more aluminium is produced than all other non-ferrous metals combined. Its unique combination of properties makes it suitable for myriad applications. It has become the world's second most used metal after steel.Annual primary production of aluminium in 2006 was around 34 million tonnes and recycled production around 16 million tonnes. The total of some 50 million tonnes compares with 17 million tonnes of copper, 8 million tonnes of lead and 0.4 million tonnes of tin.

Read More......

Waste Online

Metals - aluminium and steel recycling


Steel and aluminium are common metals in the UK and are produced and exist in large quantities. Their uses and usefulness were discovered thousands of years ago. Longevity, malleability, strength and conductivity -their properties have been used over the ages to provide us with the many goods we see today. They may be found in items as varied as cars, computers, buildings and packaging. Although UK per capita consumption of steel has dropped since the 1970s, aluminium use is still growing. Metals may remain for many years as viable products and so the environmental effects of their production will be lessened relative to using less durable materials.



World primary production of aluminium is around 24 million tonnes on average a year. The largest producer of aluminium is Australia, although other producer countries include Jamaica, Brazil, Guinea, China and parts of Europe.

World crude steel production stood at 1.05 billion tonnes in 2004. This represented a worldwide increase in production of 8.8% compared to 2003. Excluding China, world production rose by 4.5% in 2004.

Why bother?

Metals can be recycled indefinitely without loosing any of their properties. They make up around 8% of the average household dustbin yet in 2003 the recycling rates for aluminium and ferrous metals as a percentage of their consumption were only 33% and 26% respectively.



Aluminium

Aluminium is produced from bauxite, a clay-like ore that is rich in aluminium compounds. The aluminium is only found as a compound called alumina, which is a hard material consisting of aluminium combined with oxygen. This alumina has to be stripped of its oxygen in order to free the aluminium. The alumina is dissolved in a molten salt at a reduction plant and a powerful electric current is run though the liquid to separate the aluminium from the oxygen. This process uses large quantities of energy.

Recycling 1kg of aluminium saves up to 6kg of bauxite, 4kg of chemical products and 14 kWh of electricity.
Recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions as compared with primary production and reduces the waste going to landfill. Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, as reprocessing does not damage its structure. Aluminium is also the most cost-effective material to recycle.
A recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.
If all the aluminium cans in the UK were recycled there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins each year.
Steel

Steel is also mined from an ore. Iron ore is plentiful but it too is usually combined with oxygen or sometimes carbon or sulphur. The iron ore is stripped in a blast furnace to reduce it to pig iron that can then be used in steel production.
There are currently about 11Mt per year of iron and steel scrap arisings. About 70% of this scrap is recovered. Of the remainder - 2/3 is landfilled.

Steel Facts and Figures

• Each household uses approximately 600 steel cans per year
• There are over 300million cans used per week over the xmas period
• The thinnest part of the can wall measures only 0.07mm thick - that's thinner than a human hair
• It would take 1087 steel drinks cans stacked end to end to reach the top of the London Eye or 2818 to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower
• The value of used steel cans in the waste stream is £28 milllion per annum which is available to collectors.
• Don't forget that 1.8 billion drinks cans are made of steel
• Millions of steel cans are collected every day by using huge magnets to pull them out of dustbin waste
• The recycling rate of all steel packaging is 46%; aluminum has a 23.4% packaging recycle rate .
• Steel cans are becoming lighter with the average weight of a soft drinks can in 2004 expected to be only 21.4g .In 1980 it was 31.2g
• There are over 2.5 billion cans recycled in the UK each year - [That's a saving of 125,000tonnes of solid waste every year] that's equivalent to the weight of 18,000 double decker buses!!
• All steel cans are 100% recyclable
• All steel cans contain up to 25% recycled steel
• Its not just food and drink cans made from steel! - most of your deodorants, hairsprays, polishes, paint cans and other household and DIY products are made out of steel too!
• Recycling one tone of steels cans saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore ,0.5 tonnes of coal & 40% water usage
• Two-thirds of all cans on supermarkets shelves are made from steel
• Recycling 1 tonne of steel scrap saves 80% of the CO2 emissions produced when making steel from iron ore
• Recycling seven steel cans saves enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 26 hours

Every tonne of steel packaging recycled makes the following environmental savings:

1.5 tonnes of iron ore0.5 tonnes of coal40% of the water required in production75% of the energy needed to make steel from virgin material1.28 tonnes of solid waste Reduction of air emissions by 86%Reduction of water pollution by 76%
Other metals

Although present in smaller quantities - all metals including nickel, copper, silver, gold, lead, brass and more, can be recycled. Given their recognised value a smaller quantity of these metals are in circulation however with reliance on these metals by specific industries eg electronics their presence is often neglected when householders dispose of items.
How's, what's and where's of recycling metals
Scrap metal is divided into two types: ferrous and nonferrous. Ferrous scrap is scrap iron and steel. This includes scrap from old cars, household appliances, steel beams, railroad tracks, ships, and food packaging and other containers.

Nonferrous scrap metal is scrap metal other than iron and steel. Examples of nonferrous scrap include aluminium - including foil and cans, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, titanium, cobalt, chromium, and precious metals. Although there is less nonferrous scrap than ferrous scrap, it is often worth more financially. Millions of tonnes of nonferrous scrap metal are recovered by processors and consumed by secondary smelter, refiners, ingot makers, fabricators, foundries, and other industries.

Scrap metal, ferrous and nonferrous, can be categorized as either "home scrap" or "purchased scrap."

Home scrap is scrap generated at the mill, refinery, or foundry, and is generally remelted and used again at the same plant. Home scrap never leaves the plant.

Steel scrap is essential in the process of making new steel and can be recycled indefinitely without loosing its quality. Due to its magnetic properties it is easy to recover even from unsorted waste and residual waste at Energy from waste plants.

Aluminium foil, laminates (eg crisp packets) will oxidise in an incinerator and release energy similar to coal. Aluminium cans will usually melt releasing some energy and when cooled can be separated from the bottom ash.

Purchased scrap represents the fractions of the metals that need to be collected before they can be recycled. Large goods eg vehicles and fridges have historically been collected by scrap metal merchants owing to the value of the metal recovered. New legislation regarding the recycling of fridges and of end-of-life vehicles is changing the specific role of the metals recyclers in the collection and processing of these goods but their importance in recovering the metal components has not changed. Electronics recyclers are playing a bigger role in an economy in which waste electronics form an increasingly large part, not least because of new legislation.
Household metal waste packaging
As householders we are more commonly aware of the metal packaging we receive. Whereas plastic packaging may cause difficulties due to the disparate nature and need to separate it into its different types - metal packaging recycling is simpler. As the ferrous and non ferrous components can be separated using magnets one large problem of identification is solved. Whilst beverage cans remain the most popular choice for collection by local authorities - aerosol cans and aluminium foil are accepted by many.

Each year the UK uses around 600 million aerosols, which is equivalent to about ten cans per person; in total this represents almost 30,000 tonnes of reclaimable high grade metal that could be recycled each year. Approximately 85 per cent of aerosols are made from tin-plated steel, and the rest from high-grade aluminium.

Seventy-five per cent of Local Authorities are now collecting empty aerosols through either kerbside schemes or bring banks.

Steel packaging

Steel cans have a very thin layer of tin that protects the surface of the can, which is why steel cans are often called "tins". The average weight of this tin coating has decreased by 40% over the last 20 years and the average steel can now only weighs 22g compared to 34g twenty years ago. Although this has given great resource savings, throwing cans away still wastes valuable resources and adds to the amount of waste that has to be landfilled. As local authorities recognise benefits to be gained from including steel cans in their multi-material kerbside collection schemes, so recycling rates have risen. In 2003 44% of all steel packaging, including 2.5 billion steel cans, were recycled, but 9 billion steel cans are still going to landfill, this despite the fact that owing to the high price paid for steel, recycling collections can often be made at zero cost to the collector.

Aluminium packaging

75% of all canned drinks sold in the UK are packaged in aluminium. In 2001 the UK consumed 5 billion aluminium drinks cans, of which 42% were recycled. Although this is a great improvement on the 2% recycled in 1989, there were still a massive 3 billion cans that were landfilled.

Aluminium cans are recycled into new aluminium cans. Used beverage cans are normally back on supermarket shelves as new beverage cans in 6-8 weeks. With a growing percentage of cans made from aluminium, because of its lightweight qualities, this ensures a healthy market for aluminium can recycling.

Aluminium foil and aluminium cans are made of different alloys and must therefore be collected separately. Most recycled aluminium foil is used to make cast components for the automotive industry, such as cylinder heads and engine blocks.

When washed, foil milk bottle tops, tops of cartons, baking and freezing trays, kitchen foil, cigarette and tobacco foil (without the backing paper) are all suitable for collection. Metal coated plastic film, which is often used for crisp and snack packets, looks like aluminium but can not be recycled. Use the scrunch test to check whether it is aluminium foil. If it springs back when scrunched in the hand it is not recyclable!
Other metals
When considering metal recycling we generally refer to aluminium and steel. Other metals eg copper, gold, silver and brass are less frequently landfilled as their value is more generally recognised and consequently the recycling infrastructure more developed. That being said, handling of large quantities of electronic equipment in order to recover precious metals has led to the exporting of equipment to places where little regard is paid to the health or workers and the environmental consequences of poor treatment of this waste stream. For further details see our electronics information sheet.
What does the law say?
Metals' recycling is effected through ELV, WEEE, and packaging legislation. For more details see our legislation information sheet.

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