Feb 2 2011
Novelis Inc., the world's largest producer of rolled aluminum and a global leader in aluminum recycling, today announced the investment of $18 million in the construction of a new recycling center at Aluminium Norf GmbH (Alunorf) in western Germany.
Construction has started on a multi-chamber melting furnace and ancillary equipment that will recycle 50,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap per year to feed the rolling mills of Alunorf, the world's largest aluminum rolling complex. Located near Neuss, Germany, Alunorf is a joint venture of Novelis and Norsk Hydro ASA.
The Novelis recycling center will process aluminum scrap from Novelis plants as well as from the manufacturing facilities of customers across Europe. It is the second phase of a recycling expansion project at Alunorf that began in 2009 with the construction of a similar recycling facility funded by the joint venture partner, Norsk Hydro. The combined capacity of the integrated recycling operations will be 100,000 metric tons per year when the Novelis facility comes on-stream in late 2011.
"Recycling is a key component of the Novelis sustainability strategy," said Tadeu Nardocci, president of Novelis Europe and senior vice-president of Novelis Inc. "Such investments deliver environmental benefits while providing an important source of metal for Novelis. The investment at Alunorf will complement our dedicated aluminum can recycling operation in Warrington, UK, which continues to be instrumental in increasing the recycling rate for used aluminum beverage cans in Europe."
Recycling aluminum uses only five percent of the energy required to make the metal from raw materials and avoids 95 percent of the greenhouse gases associated with primary aluminum production.
Source: http://www.novelis.com/