GME Recycling builds Africa’s first fully-automated aluminium recycling plant to capitalise on $2.5 billion untapped market

GME Recycling, a leading Italian company in the design and construction of aluminium recycling plants, has reportedly set up a fully automated aluminium scrap recycling plant in Nigeria, investing 10 million euros into construction and 6 million euros into technologies. The plant, equipped with advanced technologies, is the epitome of innovation, safety, recovery, and sustainability, assuring the output of high-quality aluminium scraps in Africa.

Nigeria's waste recycling market has an untapped potential value of $2.5 billion. In Lagos alone, only 20 per cent of the 13 million tonnes of annual waste is properly collected. This significant unexplored opportunity ahead has inspired GME Recycling to develop a recycling plant aimed at promoting a circular economy.

The new recycling plant is equipped with cutting-edge technologies, including the "MAX1700" Hammer mills and the "VENTIDUDENTI" shredder. It also features advanced eddy current systems and X-ray machinery, which collectively enable the plant to eliminate contaminants from aluminium post-consumption products and prepare them for recycling.

Additionally, sensor machines installed in the plant divide the heavy metals by colour, and a dry sole furnace enables the treatment of specific types of more complex scrap, such as engine blocks.

Maurizio Mori, marketing and sales manager of GME Recycling, states: "In general, there are plants in Africa for the recycling of aluminium scrap, but none with this combination of high capacity (150,000 tons of waste per year) and GME's level of technology and automation, and therefore final yield recovery. It is estimated that our plant can achieve separated aluminium with a yield of over 97% and is fully automated, drastically reducing the disposal of abandoned waste and eliminating the typical exploitation of these territories."

This plant is the first fully automated recycling plant in the entire African continent, which will also contribute to the environmental well-being by significantly reducing CO2 emissions and saving up to 95 per cent of energy needed for the production of primary aluminium from raw materials.

This plant is estimated to employ 70 to 75 people, of whom 20 to 25 should specialise in managing operations, while the rest should be skilled in managing activities with stakeholders.