Novelis opens 400,000-tonne aluminium recycling plant in Germany

Novelis, a US-based rolled aluminium products manufacturer and a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group flagship Hindalco Industries, on Wednesday announced the opening of a $258 million recycling plant in Germany, which would process aluminium scrap from across Europe.

Novelis said the world's largest aluminum recycling facility in Nachterstedt, Germany, which is expected to process more than 400,000 metric tonnes of aluminum scrap annually, is part of the company's global recycling expansion plan.

''The Nachterstedt Recycling Center is a significant step toward our goal to be the world's low-carbon aluminum sheet producer, shif??ting our business model from a traditional linear approach to an increasingly closed-loop model.''

The state-of-the-art facility will enable Novelis to process a wide range of scrap within Europe, creating a more efficient closed-loop recycling system with the ability to consume the scrap where it is generated.

The plant will use scrap, including drinks cans, cables, wires and industrial waste and once recycled, the finished aluminum would serve customers primarily in the automotive and can markets, Novelis said.

About 300,000 tonnes of the metal produced will go to the giant Alunorf rolling mill in Germany, which produces about 1.5 million tonnes of rolled aluminium annually and is jointly owned by Novelis and Norwegian group Norsk Hydro. A further 100,000 tonnes will go to a Novelis plant in Switzerland.

The recycling plant will take Novelis much closer to the company's target of 80 per cent recycled content by the year 2020.

This plant alone will push Novelis over the 50 per cent recycled products mark by 2015. The center will also help produce more aluminum sheet ingot (which is converted by other Novelis plants into rolled aluminum).