Novelis Inc. has broken ground today on a new $50 million recycling centre. With an annual casting capacity of 100 kilotonnes of low-carbon sheet ingot, the centre is expected to reduce Novelis' carbon emissions by more than 420,000 tons each year.
"As the world leader in sustainable, low-carbon rolled aluminum solutions, we are focused on accelerating the transition of the aluminum industry to a circular economy model through the increased use of recycled content in our products," said Sachin Satpute, President of Novelis Asia. "Doing so will reduce our carbon footprint - as well as that of our customers and industry as a whole - and lead us closer to realizing our 2050 goal for carbon neutrality."
A groundbreaking ceremony for Novelis' recycling centre, which is being built by Ulsan Aluminum, Novelis' joint venture with Kobe Steel, was attended by Doo-Gyeom Kim, Ulsan Metropolitan City Mayor; Yeon-Chul Lee, Chairman of Ulsan Chamber of Commerce; and Nolan Barkhouse, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate in Busan. The facility is expected to come online in 2024.
Novelis is building the new recycling centre to meet the long-term global demand for sustainable, low-carbon aluminum sheets for cans, automotive, and specialty products. The addition of the Ulsan Recycling centre will allow Novelis to increase its recycling capacity by more than 20 percent to 440kt in Korea and to enhance its capability to process different types of aluminum scrap.
Using recycled aluminum as an input material saves 95 percent of the energy used to produce primary aluminum from bauxite, reducing carbon emissions by 95 percent. In addition, aluminum is infinitely recyclable, making it increasingly important as a sustainable material choice. Aluminum beverage cans are one of the most sustainable packagings as used cans are able to be recycled and made into new cans and back on store shelves in just 60 days. Novelis recycles 82 billion used beverage cans a year, with the Yeongju Recycling centre processing more than 18 billion of them each annually.
