Europe’s recycled aluminium industry is an important component of the global secondary aluminium supply chain, with Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (UK) representing key national markets. Production across the European region stood at nearly 6 million tonnes in 2023, supported by established scrap recovery systems, industrial recycling capacity and demand for recycled metal. Russia also contributes to the regional landscape through secondary aluminium production units concentrated in several industrial centres. According to AL Circle’s analysis in its report, “ World Recycled ALuminium Market Analysis Industry Forecast ”, the four countries present different market structures, from Germany’s substantial recycling capacity and Italy’s scrap-based production to the UK’s organised...
According to SMM survey statistics, the operating rate of the secondary aluminium alloy industry in September was 35.0 per cent, up 3.1 percentage points M-o-M but down 6.7 percentage points Y-o-Y. Industry production continued its recovery trend, but the overall operating level remained below the same period last year. On the demand side, September marked the traditional peak consumption season, with downstream orders recovering from August. End-use demand from automobiles and other sectors improved marginally, but the peak season effect has yet to fully materialise. According to CAAM data, automobile production in September was 2.99 million units, up 11.4 per cent M-o-M but down 8.7 per cent Y-o-Y. NEV production was 1.814 million units, up 12.2 per cent Y-o-Y. CAAM noted that China's...
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Japan’s exports of aluminum scrap are headed for a record this year as a weaker yen and higher recycling capacity in South Korea boost shipments, according to Mitsui Bussan Metals Co. “This year’s exports will be a record if the yen and aluminum prices remain stable,” said Shigeyuki Fukushima, executive vice president of the unit of Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second largest trading house. Shipments reached an all-time high of 148,000 metric tons in 2009 and were 120,000 tons in the first nine months of this year, finance ministry data show. Demand for scrap in the Asian automotive market is expected to exceed the 25 percent compound annual growth rate projected globally over the next five years, as more carmakers move to build lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles, according to Novelis Inc....
The recycling rate for aluminum cans in the US is a mere 55%. That's below the global average of about 70% and well below rates of better than 90% than Scandinavian countries can boast – or Brazil's 98% recycling rate. The low US rate represents an enormous waste of materials and energy – and a big opportunity. Atlanta-based Novelis is aggressively seizing that opportunity. The $9.8bn firm converts aluminum into flat sheets, most of which is then turned into beverage and food cans. Novelis is already the world's biggest aluminum recycler, and it aims to do more. Its chief executive, Phil Martens, says the company wants to turn its "whole business model from a traditional linear one to a closed-loop one". To that end, Novelis this year introduced a breakthrough product called the evercan,...
Brazil recycled 97.9% of all aluminium cans consumed in the country in 2012, making it the top can recycler in the world for the 11th year in a row. Figures from the country’s aluminium association (Abal) and high-recyclability can producers association (Abralatas) show that about 267,100 tonnes of cans were recycled in 2012 in Brazil. In comparison, the USA recycled 67% of the cans in the market while Japan recycled 92.5%. In 2011, Brazil had recycled 98.3% of the cans available in the market. “Brazil is currently on the verge of what is possible to recycle. We will hardly reach 100%,” Renault de Freitas Castro, Abralatas executive director, said. The sheer number of people working as can collectors and several organised cooperatives are among the factors that make the country a leading...
Japan's scrap aluminum prices have risen by 5-8% from a month ago due to tightening supply, local trade sources said Tuesday. Prices for telik, used by secondary aluminum alloy smelters, were heard in the range of Yen 135-140/kg ($1,380-1,430/mt) ex-yard this week, up Yen 5-8/kg from a month ago, dealer and consumer sources said. One west Japan scrap dealer said telik traded at Yen 140/kg ex-yard for over 1,000 mt volumes. "There are two large secondary aluminum smelters in the Osaka area and they compete to secure telik," the dealer said. Meanwhile, a secondary aluminum smelter in central Japan said he was able to buy at prices slightly lower. Both sources, however, agreed that prices for all scrap types were up by 5% or more from a month ago. The scrap dealer said auto engine shred...
Secondary aluminium production and the downstream industry in the Middle East are being limited by large-scale export of aluminium scrap, a result of relatively low downstream activity, according to delegates at Metal Bulletin’s 21st recycled aluminium conference in Dubai. “Major recyclers [in the Middle East] mostly look at export opportunities so downstream players are left with limited sources of scrap in the region,” Subramanian Venkatesan, vp of metals and minerals at Frost & Sullivan, said at the conference. The Middle East exports about 80% of its end-of-life scrap, Venkatesan said. Additionally, most aluminium shelters in the region are not set up to maximise the usage of recycled metal or to retain value in their own waste products. “Smelters do not have the latest technology...
The European Commission has approved funding of €40m (£34m) for 14 new research projects to improve resource efficiency in the EU economy. The projects include reusing discarded automobile tyres, recovering key elements from batteries, producing green fertiliser from animal waste and generating renewable clean energy from food and plant waste. They will involve the collaboration of more than 140 partners from research organisations and private companies. The commitment is included in the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development and will involve partners from 19 European countries. The projects will be kicked off at events in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday when the project co-ordinators will meet the European Commission to set the priorities and...
Europe needs to add 600,000 tpy of aluminium recycling capacity by 2020, Norsk Hydro head of recycling Roland Scharf-Bergmann said. Speaking at Metal Bulletin’s 21st recycled aluminium conference in Dubai, he said that, as the level of primary aluminium production in Europe falls as a result of the closure of unprofitable smelters, secondary aluminium is becoming a more important supplier of feedstock to aluminium consumers in Europe. “Primary production in Europe is slowing, and the raw material base for Europe is changing from primary to secondary,” Scharf-Bergmann said. “Already, more products are made from secondary aluminium than from primary in Europe.” Scrap supply in Europe will have grown by 1 million tpy by 2020, Scharf-Bergmann said, while exports will remain at similar levels...
Prices for secondary aluminium alloys held steady in the USA this past week as producers said limited supply coupled with robust demand from the automotive sector was supporting the lower end of the market. Producers noted that several smelters were either in the process of bringing furnaces back online or dealing with issues related to furnace repair. “We are just getting our furnace back online this week and we’ve had to go into the market and buy 380 from two competitors, but did inquiries into five competitors and found things to be very tight,” one alloy producer told Metal Bulletin sister publication AMM, adding that major producers were taking a “hand-to-mouth” approach to inventory because of continued automotive demand. “Basically, things are really tight on secondary new...
“The world does not need scrap contracts,” proclaimed the London Metal Exchange’s former Chief Executive Officer Martin Abbott in his address to the latest BIR Non-Ferrous Metals Division meeting, held in Warsaw on 29 October 2013. Mr Abbott was in Warsaw to receive the BIR Certificate of Merit for his “continuous support and commitment” to the recycling industry. Underlining the “critical role” played by BIR, he said the scrap industry in general boasted a greater concentration of “people trading with their own money and assets”, resulting in a “no-nonsense business approach” that was “very, very refreshing”. The scrap industry was also the biggest user of sophisticated forward/futures markets and was “utterly conversant with them”. Another person to be honoured in Warsaw was Dr Peter...
Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced today the commissioning of its expanded recycling plant in Latchford, Warrington in the UK. With an investment of approximately € 13.6 million (£6 million), the plant’s capacity will increase by over a third and becomes Europe’s largest closed-loop recycling operation for automotive aluminium rolled products. “With the commissioning in Latchford, we are expanding our recycling capabilities and developing efficient manufacturing systems along our automotive supply chain,” said Erwin Mayr, Senior Vice President and President, Novelis Europe. “Responding to the realities of our increasingly resource constrained world and demands for a more sustainable economy, Novelis is transforming its business model to be largely...
The first commercial scale plant dedicated to recycling laminated plastics and aluminium packaging has entered the final stage of commissioning. The Alconbury facility has been built by Enval, a spin-off of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Enval’s business development director, David Boorman, told MRW it will start commercial operations by the end of the year. The plant will process up to 2,000 tonnes of laminated packaging material per year turning it into some 200 tonnes of aluminium and 1,400 tonnes of unrefined oil through a process called pyrolysis (described below). The gas produced during the process will be used to generate electricity, enough to power the facility. Enval claims the plant is the first of its kind in the world. Boorman said the...
Brazil’s domestic aluminium scrap market continued to strengthen in October with most prices recording monthly rises, while all were up from levels a year earlier, according to a survey released by the Brazilian aluminium association, Abal. The most expensive class of secondary aluminium items in Brazil – scrap profile cuttings, unpainted and without contaminants (iron, oil, grease and rivets) – stood at 4,920 Reais ($2,247) per tonne at the end of October, up 1.2% on the month and 16% higher year-on-year, according to Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), which carried out the survey for Abal. “This increase has been going on for the past few months. We believe that in November and December, there could be a change in the [current] scenario,” Carlos Roberto Morais, coordinator of Abal´s...
Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced today that it completed its second annual "One Novelis Volunteer Month." Throughout the month of October, more than 300 Novelis Europe employees in Germany, UK, France, Italy and Switzerland volunteered 2,000 hours as part of the company's efforts to support the communities in which it operates. The goal of the One Novelis Volunteer Month is for each Novelis location to complete a large-scale volunteer activity aligned with the company's overall sustainability program. Novelis employees at 35 sites in 11 countries around the globe took part in this year's program. "Novelis is committed to supporting efforts that promote safety, math and science education, recycling and environmental awareness, to ensure the best...
An effort to stop copper and aluminum thefts from buildings continues today when a City Council committee will discuss modifying the city's salvage legislation proposal to allow city residents up to three free permits. Councilman Eddie Colbert, D-7th Ward, hopes to pass legislation next month that would make it more difficult for people to sell copper pipes and wiring, and aluminum siding without proving they have the legal right to sell it. "What we are trying to do is slow the rate of, if not stop, the theft of copper pipes, wiring and aluminum siding," he said. Council's legislative committee will meet at 4 p.m. today in council chambers to discuss moving the proposed legislation to full council for consideration. Under the proposal, people wanting to scrap one or more of the three...
UK secondary aluminium producers are preparing for a difficult scrap market in 2014, with tightness expected across international markets and no expectations of lower prices to come. “Scrap will be an issue next year – we’re trying to maintain sensible stock levels until the new year, but when we come back [after the holidays] it will be tight,” a producer said. “At the moment I can buy what I want, but if I try and push prices down I don’t get it.” While some material is hidden from the market by dealers that are holding it back in anticipation of higher prices to come, it is not enough cover the expected shortfall across global markets next year. “I went to 13 yards yesterday and 40 last week and I’m only just scraping together the tonnages I need,” a scrap dealer said. “I have...
Scrap aluminium wheel prices have weakened in October, with several suppliers noting that consumers are reducing purchasing activities in an effort to normalise inventory levels. Free-market transaction prices for 356.1 wheels are between 82 and 84 cents per lb compared with 83 and 85 cents on October 9, according to traders. Consumer interest has fallen over the past two weeks, one seller said. “It’s getting to the end of the year, and a lot of the companies have fat inventories [...] You can sell rims, but the price isn’t that great,” he said. “We need rims, but we can’t pay more than 80 cents for them right now,” one major buyer of rims told Metal Bulletin sister title AMM. “We have been getting plenty of offers and are able to meet our inventory needs at desired price levels.” Prices...
At its fall board meeting earlier this month, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) approved a new policy supporting the ability of recyclers and refurbishers to unlock technological devices such as cell phones, tablets and other electronics, and return reusable electronics products to the marketplace. Current copyright law makes the U.S. the only country where recyclers do not have the ability to unlock devices, standing in the way of advances in the reuse of technological devices and new innovations and competitive uses. “The current system limits recyclers and consumers when it comes to extending the life and reusing cell phones and tablets,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “Allowing electronics recyclers and refurbishers to unlock these devices will help encourage...
The Aluminum Material Council of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association has released a new white paper on aluminum’s sustainability, strength and efficiency, “Aluminum: The total Solution for Sustainable, Strong and Efficient Commercial Building Design.” “The overall goal of the AMC white paper is to encapsulate the many strategic advantages when incorporating aluminum extrusions into today’s commercial fenestration products,” said Brent Slaton of Keymark, Chair of AAMA’s AMC Marketing Committee, according to an Oct. 28 AAMA release. “These advantages include energy efficiency, recyclability/sustainability, cost advantages, freedom of design, strength to weight ratio and the plethora of colors and finishes available in the marketplace. Throughout this white paper, it’s...
