Novelis: $365 million recycling centre

Novelis Inc. has announced it will invest $365 million to build a highly advanced recycling centre for automotive in North America. With an annual casting capacity of 240 kt of sheet ingot, the facility is expected to reduce the company's carbon emissions by more than one million tons each year. The new recycling facility will be built adjacent to Novelis' existing automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Kentucky.

The centre will enable Novelis to grow its closed-loop-recycling programs with more automotive customers in North America. Through closed-loop recycling, the company takes back the aluminium remaining after automotive parts are stamped from sheets and remakes it into the same product for new vehicle production. The centre will also have the capability to process aluminium from vehicles at the end of their lifecycle. Using recycled aluminium as input material requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminium, thus avoiding 95% of the carbon emissions associated with production.

"Novelis aims to be the world's leading provider of low-carbon, sustainable aluminium solutions that advance our business, industry and society toward the benefits of a circular economy," said Steve Fisher, President and CEO of Novelis, Inc. "Through this investment, we will continue to increase the amount of recycled content in our products, reducing our CO₂ emissions and moving us closer to carbon neutrality."

The new recycling centre will be equipped with industry-leading processes and capabilities, including advanced shredding and sorting technology, as well as energy-efficient innovations to support the company's sustainability goal to reduce energy intensity by 10 % by 2026. Ground-breaking is scheduled for early 2022, with commissioning expected in 2024.