Novelis casts first ingot at new aluminium recycling center in Nachterstedt

Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced today that it successfully cast the first production-sized ingot – almost 10 meters long – at its 200 million Euro aluminium recycling and casting center in Nachterstedt, Germany.

Located adjacent to the company’s existing aluminium rolling mill, the new plant will produce up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminium sheet ingot from recycled material annually, and is projected to be the world’s largest aluminium recycling center. The company is still in the process of actively recruiting qualified candidates to fill the center’s 200 new jobs.

After laying the first stone in March 2013, celebrating the roofing ceremony in June 2013 and installing the first equipment in November 2013, the project continues to progress on schedule. Successful casting of the first full-sized trial ingot represents another important milestone leading to the planned production of full commercial volumes, and to the official opening in fall 2014.

“We are very pleased with the steady progress on the construction and ramp-up of our recycling center in Nachterstedt,” said Erwin Mayr, Senior Vice President of Novelis and President, Novelis Europe. “This major investment further highlights our long-term sustainability commitment to dramatically increase the recycled content of our products across all market segments and save valuable natural resources, while enabling our customers to create products with a smaller environmental footprint.”

The new recycling center will support the company’s drive to significantly expand its recycling activity in Europe, a region in which Novelis is already the leading recycler of used beverage cans. The center will process cans as well as numerous other forms of aluminium scrap from across continental Europe.