Novelis Opens World’s Largest Aluminum Recycling Facility

by | Oct 2, 2014

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NovelisNovelis opened the world’s largest aluminum recycling center on Wednesday in Nachterstedt, Germany, at a cost of $258 million.

The center, located adjacent to the company’s rolling mill, will process up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap annually.

Since 2011, Novelis has invested about $500 million to expand its recycling network, doubling its recycling capacity to 2.1 million metric tons per year and raising its recycled content from 30 percent to 46 percent.  The company’s goal is to achieve 80 percent recycled content by 2020.

The center features the most current technologies available for aluminum scrap sorting, de-coating, melting and casting, and will give Novelis the flexibility to process a wide range of scrap types. To feed the facility, Novelis is expanding and diversifying its scrap purchasing network.

Aluminum ingots produced at Nachterstedt will be hot-rolled at Novelis’ facilities in Norf, Germany, and Sierre, Switzerland, and then supplied to company operations across Europe for further processing.  Finished coils of aluminum sheet will be delivered to customers primarily in the automotive and beverage can markets.

According to Phil Martens of Novelis, the center represents a significant step toward the company’s goal of becoming the world’s low-carbon aluminum sheet producer, and also shifts its business model from a linear approach to more of a closed-loop model.

In April, Novelis, working together with Red Hare Brewing, introduced the world’s first certified high-recycled content aluminum sheet for beverage cans.

Last month, Novelis was the first metals company to be accepted into the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program. As part of its participation in the program, the company has committed to reduce the carbon emissions from its operations by 10 percent, reduce its absolute carbon emissions by 50 percent, and increase the recycled content of its products to 80 percent.

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