Novelis achieves 49% recycled aluminium inputs, makes progress on GHG targets

Aluminium rolling and recycling leader Novelis released its sustainability report for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) on December 22. The company doubled its recycling capacity over the past five years, among other achievements.

Recycled aluminium produces 95 percent fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and requires 95 percent less energy than primary aluminium production, according to the company. Novelis says this enabled them to increase their global production capacity while reducing their GHG emissions by 13 percent from baseline years of 2007-2009.

At the end of FY15, Novelis achieved an average of 49 percent recycled aluminium inputs, up 19 percent from the baseline years. Post-consumer recycled aluminium, most of which is used beverage containers, accounts for roughly two-thirds of Novelis' total scrap inputs. The company opened two new aggregation centers in the United Kingdom in FY 2015, and further developed its "street-level" scrap collection networks in Vietnam and Brazil. Novelis also opened the world’s largest and most technologically advanced aluminium recycling center in the world, in Nacherstedt, Germany. The facility can process up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminium scrap annually. The company has invested approximately $2 billion since 2011 to expand its recycling and production capacity.

The company expanded its portfolio of high-recycled content aluminium products to include a beverage can sheet and launched a certification for food containers, evercycle™.

"Novelis' commitment to sustainability is fundamental to our success as the global leader in aluminum rolling and recycling," said Steve Fisher, President and CEO at Novelis. "Our continued focus on sustainability enables us to provide the lower carbon, high recycled content products our customers demand and provides a source of competitive advantage in the markets we serve."

Novelis reduced its water use intensity by 22 percent from the baseline years. It focused its efforts on drought-impacted areas, such as by automating the industrial and drinking water systems at its plant in Pindamonhangaba, Brazil. Energy use intensity has also been reduced by 22 percent.

Novelis has been working with Ford to close the loop for automotive aluminium. In 2015, Novelis supplied lightweight automotive aluminium for the Ford F-150, eliminating 700 pounds from the vehicle and making it more fuel efficient. The companies work together to ensure the manufacturing scrap is recycled. Novelis has tripled its automotive sheet capacity since 2011, in part by opening a wholly-owned facility in Changzhou, China, the country's first facility dedicated to producing heat-treated aluminium sheets for the automotive industry.