Each time an aluminum beverage can is recycled, some amount of the material is lost due to a variety of reasons. If each recycling step is 90% efficient, what percent of the original material remains if a can is recycled 6 times? Round to the nearest tenth of a percent.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If each recycling step is 90% efficient, then the percentage of material remaining after each step is 90% of the previous amount. After 6 recycling steps, the amount of material remaining is:
100% × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 = 53.1%
Therefore the answer is D, 53.1%.

Each Time an Aluminum Beverage Can Is Recycled, Some Amount