Novelis Asia opens recycling centre
Novelis, a leading producer of rolled aluminium, has announced the opening of an aluminium recycling and casting centre at its Yeongju, South Korea, facility.
The new operation is the largest aluminium beverage can recycling centre in Asia.
The Yeongju recycling centre is part of a multi-year, $400 million expansion of Novelis’ operations in Korea. Asia is the world’s fastest growing market for rolled aluminium used to create beverage cans, cars and consumer electronics.
“The opening of the Yeongju recycling and casting facility marks an important milestone in our sustainability commitment,” says Phil Martens, Novelis president and chief executive officer. “Combined with our other recycling operations worldwide, this new state-of-the-art facility makes Novelis the world’s leading recycler of aluminium, saving valuable natural resources while enabling our customers to create world-class products with a much smaller environmental footprint.”
Novelis has committed to dramatically increasing the recycled content of its rolled aluminium products to 80% by 2020. This project represents the first major step in the company’s plan to increase its recycling capacity to 2.1 million tons by 2015. The new facility will have an annual capacity of 265,000 tons, and will increase the company’s total consumption of recycled aluminium to over 1.4 million tons per year.
“The commissioning of our new recycling and casting facility is a testament to the diligent efforts of the Novelis Asia management team and the dedication of our highly skilled Novelis workforce here in South Korea,” notes Shashi Maudgal, president of Novelis Asia. “With our aggressive expansion plans, we are well positioned to meet the rising demand for rolled aluminium.”
Novelis expects to be a major buyer of aluminium scrap throughout Asia due to this investment. Used aluminum beverage cans and other aluminum scrap will be processed by the new facility for re-melting and casting into sheet ingot that will be rolled at the company’s Yeongju and Ulsan plants.
