Energy gains lost with closure of Alcoa’s recycling plant

The close down of the last aluminium recycling plant in NSW is a great blow for sustainability and jobs, as the plant has the capacity to save 95% of the total energy used for manufacturing aluminium, the environmental experts says.

Alcoa has announced the closure of the aluminium plant in Yennora, making 180 workers jobless. It also plans the closure of its Point Henry smelter as well as rolling mill in Geelong, leading to loss of jobs for 800 people.

Stuart White, director of Institute for Sustainable Futures at the Sydney University of Technology, said the state was disappointed with the decision of closure of their NSW recycling plant.

'Aluminium recycling is one of the most clear-cut cases of the energy benefits of recycling materials, rather than producing from virgin materials,'' he said.

''If we want to move to a situation where we are recovering a whole range of minerals from the urban sector, shifting our mining from what's under the ground to what's above the ground, then this is an unfortunate development.''

Professor White is working with CSIRO and looks after the generation of wealth from waste materials.

Jeff Angel from the Total Environment Centre said recycling aluminium is responsible for saving 95% of the energy used in the production and manufacture of aluminium. ''I think it is fundamentally better that you have your own domestic recycling industry and certainly the use of recycled material, whether it is plastic, paper or aluminium, is an important energy cost saving for manufacturing,'' he said.

''You are avoiding the transport costs of importing the material.

''Having a good stream of recycling material is a good resource security and you don't have to rely so much on imports.''

Tim Ayres, the secretary of Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW said the decision of closing down the Western Sydney’s recycling plant was the next sign of blue-collar job losses in this region. He considered it a blow to the environmental sustainability of the state.

The federal and state governments considered the carbon tax responsible for closure of Alcoa’s plant, but the company said the carbon tax cannot be blamed for its closure.