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bluGilltoday at 3:41 PM1 replyview on HN

aluminum foil is generally not something you can recycle. Not that it can't be recyled, but the oxide to pure aluminum ratio is high and so you don't gain much since you need all the energy of refining in the first place to get back to something usable.

Amazon needs stronger boxes than foil anyway. Cardboard is likely best for them.


Replies

cpercivatoday at 4:56 PM

the oxide to pure aluminum ratio is high

For some definition of high? Standard foil is around 20 um thick while the oxide layer only goes about 10 nm deep.