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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The Arab International Aluminium Conference (ARABAL 2012), which will be held in Doha from November 20-22, will discuss the benefits of aluminium recycling, according to Qatalum, the host company. Qatalum said recycling is becoming one of the important industries in terms of global interest and size and type of investment, which targets the environment, community, and the industry itself. Qatalum noted that the recycling industry maintains a close relationship with many industrial sectors and a proportional relationship in terms of the diversity of outputs, uses of industrial products and the increasing need to recycle and reuse. “Aluminium is a leading industry with regard to development and diversity of products and uses. Therefore, there is an urgent need to have rapid and on-going...
Gizmoplans, a leader in do-it-yourself construction plans, has released a new set of blueprints to construct a DIY Can Crusher. Now people who cash in on aluminum cans can make the work of crushing those cans a lot easier by assembling their own electric can crusher. These new can crusher plans include everything a person needs in order to build their own aluminum can crushing unit. The DIY can crusher is the latest construction plan to be released by Gizmoplans, a company known for its do-it-yourself projects. The newest unit to be added under the company's recycling equipment section, the electric aluminum can crusher will make short work when it comes to compressing aluminum cans. People will find that the can crusher plans are easy to follow and that building one takes very little...
Global aluminium producer Novelis has reported lower earnings for the first quarter of its 2012/13 fiscal year due to decreased volumes and lower scrap benefits year-on-year. Its EBITDA was $259 million for the quarter up to 30 June down 15 per cent year on year from $306 million reported in the same period last year. Net income excluding special items was up 20 per cent to $91 million. Novelis president and chief executive Phil Martens said: “As expected, EBITDA increased sequentially as we saw market demand firm in most of our regions but decreased on a year-on-year basis, primarily due to the loss of some can business in North America, a meaningful decrease in scrap benefits as well as some production and supply chain disruptions we faced early in the quarter. “Despite this, we’ve...
THE first company to occupy the enterprise zone at Alconbury Weald looks set to be at the cutting edge of recycling technology. Enval Limited, which was spun off from Cambridge University’s department of chemical engineering six years ago and is currently based in Luton, wants to expand the research and development arm of its aluminium reclamation business into two of the existing buildings at the former Alconbury airfield. The company has developed a process for recycling laminated films from packaging in which thin foil is sandwiched between layers of plastic or paper – such as food and drink packaging and tubes for toothpaste and cosmetics. Until recently, there has been no technology for recovering the metal or plastic constituents, so laminate waste – 139,000 tonnes a year in the UK...
Stocks of aluminum alloy ingot stored at the London Metal Exchange warehouse in Guangyang of South Korea have dropped to 7,820 mt on August 9, down 39.6% from 12,960 mt on July 9, according to recent LME data. The stocks have dropped mainly due to Japanese buying, fueled by the LME aluminum alloy prices falling by $200/mt in the last four months, South Korean and Japanese trade sources said. Aluminum alloy ingot includes 226-grade used by the Japanese secondary aluminum alloy smelters as feedstock, as well as ADC12 used by diecasters. Trade and secondary aluminum smelter sources said the recent imports into Japan are believed to be mostly of 226-grade. Japanese customs data showed that aluminum alloy imports from South Korea to Japan increased to 2,561 mt during the January-June 2012...
Aluminum alloy spot prices gained a further Eur10/mt ($12/mt) in Europe this week on tight summer supply and firm scrap prices. Secondary aluminum plants in France, Italy, Spain, parts of southern Germany and the UK are closed for summer turnarounds, making additional spot tonnes difficult to secure, sources said Wednesday. "There's not much material around and we saw some buyers seeking extra quantities for August and September this week," said a German alloy producer, who explained that with most southern European alloy plants out of action extra supplies were "not easy to get." Those few spot buyers in the market were looking for prices of around Eur1,720-1,730/mt delivered works but bids were rejected. A trade source agreed that the spot price tendency was moving "higher," partly...
Mary Stumpp has met a lot of people driving "Carmella," a 1993 beat-up, caramel-colored Chevrolet pickup overflowing with garbage bags full of aluminum cans around Broad Ripple and other parts. On her drives, the 51-year-old introduces herself as "The Can Lady," often abruptly pulling to the side of the road three or four times to pick up a stray can here and there before reaching the next stop on her route. She collects and recycles aluminum cans for her personal charitable cause, the Can Lady Project. "I'm not worried about where my next meal is coming from," she said. "This is just my community service for all the times I didn't get caught -- and it suits my schedule." Stumpp was prompted to action four years ago after a young neighbor told her about some kids who couldn't afford the...
Following a 2.2 percent decline, Chinese aluminum billet finished as the week’s biggest mover on the weekly Aluminum Chinese aluminum scrap prices were off slightly, down roughly $40 per metric ton from a week ago. Following a 0.2 percent increase in the week prior, the cash price of Chinese aluminum fell 1.3 percent last week. Following a steady week, prices for Chinese aluminum bar closed flat below $2,200 per metric ton. The primary aluminum cash price fell 1.5 percent last week on the LME, settling at $1,839 per metric ton. The aluminum 3-month price closed last week at $1,871 per metric ton, after a 1.2 percent drop on the LME. The cash price of primary Indian aluminum fell 1.3 percent after rising 3.4 percent the week before. Korean 3003 coil premium over 1050 sheet remained...
Nespresso’s new Pixie coffee machine, the smallest of the company’s capsule brewers, is constructed from aluminium recovered from recycled coffee capsules. Nespresso has extensive recycling efforts in Europe for their capsules. In June 2011, Nespresso launched a new capsule recycling service where club members can order a recycling bag in which to store used capsules and, once the bag is full, arrange for it to be collected when placing a new order.
Japan's Nikkei MC Aluminium (NMA) today made an entry into India's Rs 7,500 crore aluminium alloy market in a joint venture with domestic major Century Metal Recycling (CMR). "We will form a joint venture for setting up a plant for manufacturing aluminium alloy, used in automotive sector, at Bawal in Haryana with Rs 50 crore investment," NMA's President Shuzou Hammamura said. A 55:45 joint venture between Nippon Light Metal Co and Mitsubishi Corporation, NMA is the second largest aluminium alloy maker of Japan. It had clocked $600 million turnover last year. NMA has eight plants including three outside Japan with a total capacity of 2.4 lakh tonnes a year. Aluminium alloys, made adding zinc, silicon and manganese among others with the mother metal, is being increasingly used in the...
Offers of European secondary aluminum alloy into Japan has picked up pace this week with the euro trading against the yen at a 10-year record low of Yen 94-95 Monday, Japanese traders said Tuesday. So far this week, one Spanish producer has offered ADC12 secondary aluminum alloy at $2,095/mt CFR Japan to a Tokyo-based trader and $2,120/mt CFR Japan to another Tokyo-based trader. The offers were $50-100/mt lower than offers coming from Chinese producers who regularly supply into Japan. Last week there was just one deal done from Europe -- a Russia-based producer sold 300-500 mt of secondary aluminum alloy to a Japan trader at $2,100/mt CFR Japan for August shipment. Spanish and Italian aluminum alloy producers had started pitching up sales into Japan from April, as European alloy...
The world’s largest recycler of used aluminium cans, Novelis, has announced they will be establishing a new buying organization for the collection of used beverage cans (UBCs) which will make the company the largest UBC procurement company in North America. This follows the announcement that Novelis will be withdrawing from the joint ‘Evermore’ recycling venture with Alcoa at the end of August. The two companies, who have partnered since 2009, have purchased more recycling cans than any other company in the world. “This move is in line with our global strategy to enhance our scrap procurement and recycling assets to support our goal of achieving 80% recycled content in our products by 2020,” said Derek Prichett, Vice President, Global Recycling for Novelis.
An enterprising artist is turning his trash into cash by using empty aluminium cans to create unique artworks that sell for thousands. Jeff Ivanhoe, 67, has spent more than 30 years painstakingly piecing together his 'AluMosaics'; carving cans into tiny pieces then arranging the colourful strips into images of everything from dogs and vintage cars to Elvis Presley and the Statue of Liberty. The New York artist has made over 200 pieces since 1979, and sold more than 150 for between £1,500 and £4,000 each. Self-confessed perfectionist Mr Ivanhoe requires just a meagre budget for materials as he uses only discarded drinks cans to create his mosaics, which he spends weeks putting together. 'All I use is empty Coca-Cola and other brands of aluminium cans people throw away,' he said. 'Everybody...
A Halethorpe-based Girl Scout troop finished seventh in a national competition by recycling thousands of aluminum cans during a 16-week campaign. As part of the Great American Can Roundup Scout/Council Challenge that began Jan. 15, members of Troop 496 collected discarded cans by placing containers at Lamb of God School on Fairview Avenue in Halethorpe and combing their neighborhoods. By the time the competition sponsored by Can Manufacturers Institute ended on April 30, the girls had recycled 209 pounds of cans. "My girls are all into recycling," said Theresa Spliedt, the scoutmaster for the troop. "They're into taking care of the environment." Spliedt, who said the troop also recycles paper and participates in stream cleanings, called the cans that Scouts would bring to her house...
The overall recycling rate for aluminium cans reached 66.7 per cent in 2010, according to the most recent figures published by the European Aluminium Association (EAA). For the EU 27 countries, plus EFTA nations and Turkey, the recycling rate increased by 2.4 per cent in 2010 despite an extra 2 billion cans entering the market compared to 2009. When EAA started reporting on aluminium can recycling in Europe 20 years ago, only 30 per cent of all beverage cans were recycled. It is now aiming for 75 per cent recycling by 2020. The UK recycled 54 per cent of its cans in 2010, according to EAA, with Germany having the biggest success at 96 per cent followed by Finland with 95 per cent recycling.
This month marks six months since upgrades to the Evans Landing landfill came into effect, an important milestone in terms of the community working together to dispose of waste appropriately. During 2010 and 2011, $ 2.5 million worth of upgrades were made to the 30-year-old facility, including a new drop-off station - located next to the weigh bridge - with a number of different drop off points for paper and cardboard, aluminium cans, white goods, batteries and waste oil. The upgrades also included significant improvements to the site's water management. The landfill's overall environmental performance has improved since the upgrades were implemented, with a 20 per cent increase in the amount of recyclable material being disposed of at the facility. A major cleanup of illegally dumped...
Fortrans, a producer of low-toxicity, biodegradable specialty chemicals and various other environment- related products, has introduced Safe Bright, an aluminum brightener. The product is a safe alternative to hazardous hydrofluoric acid, ammonium bifluoride and other acid products that are utilized to brighten aluminum. Safe Bright will deoxidize and brighten the surfaces of aluminum. The innovative brightener employs a new material that has secured the EPA P2 Pollution Prevention Award. In addition, Safe Bright has an HMIS code 1, which denotes an eye and skin irritant, and is non-regulated by DOT. Safe-Bright from Fortrans has very low odor and will not etch or attack glass products. It does not etch or dull aluminum surfaces and is safe to apply on rubber seals, plastic, chrome-plated...
Abengoa SA (ABG) will spend $120 million on two steel-dust-waste treatment plants in Turkey and the investment could rise to $300 million if it decides to expand capacity and build an aluminum waste treatment plant. The Spanish engineering company’s Befesa Medio Ambiente SA unit will build the plants in the western and southern industrial provinces of Izmir and Adana, Befesa Chairman Javier Molina Montes said in a news conference in Istanbul today. The factories will each have a steel dust treatment capacity of 110,000 metric tons a year, he said. Befesa has potential to expand its plants, which will start operations in the second half of 2014, Turkey’s Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said at the conference. Befesa plans to recycle about 45 percent of the steel dust produced in Turkey’s...
