Alumetal, a Polish recycling company, has successfully taken the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for its recycled foundry alloy aluminium products.
Image Source: Hydro
"By applying industry-leading practices, Alumetal is able to turn trash into treasure. The product declaration not only validates Hydro's and Alumetal's commitment to driving sustainability and responsibility in the aluminium industry but also provides our customers and partners with exact knowledge of the environmental impact of their supply chain," voiced Hanne Simensen, Executive Vice President in Hydro Aluminium Metal.
Alumetal has been owned by Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy enterprise Hydro since 2023.
Recycling aluminium requires just 5 per cent of the cumulative energy needed to produce primary metal in any smelter. Recycling more post-consumer scrap is crucial to boost emission curbs, with transparency about the initial production of aluminium, which is immensely valuable due to growing consumer awareness and regulatory mandates.
"Our customers are becoming more and more conscious about where and how materials are produced. Completing this EPD marks an important step as it gives a clear picture of our aluminium products' environmental impact and carbon footprint. We are proud to provide our customers with the data they need to make informed choices, which ultimately will help them reach their sustainability goals," says Agnieszka Drzyżdżyk, CEO of Alumetal.
Post-consumer scrap has a carbon footprint close to zero since emissions have already been accounted for compared to pre-consumer scrap stemming from aluminium production processes. The by-product allocation method utilised is what positions Alumetal's EPD apart. The environmental advantages of using PCS are appropriately addressed by accurately discerning between pre and post-consumer scrap. Alumetal has been pioneering the recycling of formidable post-consumer aluminium scrap to contain a valuable resource from ending up in landfills.
"All aluminium can be recycled, but that doesn't mean all aluminium is equal. Alumetal is key in our efforts to source more post-consumer scrap and develop advanced sorting technologies to allow an increased amount of used aluminium to be given a new life. With the Environmental Product Declaration, Alumetal's customers will now know exactly what they get and avoid the risk of greenwashing," says Simensen.
An EPD is a Type III environmental declaration that calibrates environmental details about a product's life cycle. This can facilitate comparisons between products with similar functions. The methodology to derive an EPD is established on a product's life cycle assessment (LCA) in accordance with the ISO 14040 series of standards.
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