With the global demand for recycled aluminium surging, what holds the future of the UAE's recycled aluminium? Owing to this, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has been constructing the largest aluminium recycling plant in UAE which commenced on November 21, 2023. On May 13, 2025, the firm announced the completion of 50 per cent of the construction, 42 days ahead of the scheduled timeline. The project, slated to come into operation in 2026, will be the largest recycling plant in the UAE.
Image source: media.ega.ae
This recycling plant is built next to another smelter plant of the firm in Al Taweelah. The construction of the new recycling plant will enable the firm to recycle approximately 170,000 tonnes per year. At the milestone of completing 50 per cent of the plant construction, a total of 1.2 million hours of work had been devoted with zero Lost Time Incidents. As of now, the largest furnace is set to complete the installation in June.
After the completion of this new recycling plant, the firm aims to process post-consumer aluminium scrap and develop low-carbon yet premium quality aluminium billets. In order to process the scrap, the new recycling plant would require achieving the melt rate of 17 tonnes per hour within the largest furnace. These low-carbon aluminium billets will be further undertaken and promoted by EGA under the product name ‘RevivAL’.
Previously, the majority of the scrap generated in the UAE used to be exported for processing, creating a direct impact on the domestic economy. By building the UAE’s first ever largest aluminium recycling plant, the company assures the country with a positive economic structure and an in-house recycling process can be conducted.
Abdulnasser bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said, “Recycling is a key global growth opportunity for our industry and for EGA. We have made decisive steps in developing a global recycling business and here in the UAE, with the construction of the recycling plant. The facility will enable us to expand our low-carbon metal portfolio for our local and global customers, and is a new milestone for Make in the Emirates.”
Apart from this, within the recycling segment, the firm had made material progress by acquiring Leitchmetall, a European speciality foundry alongside Spectro Alloys, a secondary foundry alloy producer in the United States back in 2024.
Additionally, EGA marks the first company to begin the production of aluminium by using solar power, which was launched in the market under the name of CelestiAL. The initiation for developing low-carbon aluminium can be traced back to 2023 when the firm combined both recycled aluminium and solar to achieve a lower carbon intensity production process.
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