Aluminium’s trade map is no longer drawn by smelters alone. Scrap flows, power contracts, industrial policy and specialist grades now shape who secures metal, at what cost and under whose rules. Ten recent developments across Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Mexico show how recycling, energy and regulation are becoming the new levers of aluminium competitiveness. They also show where traders, exporters and policymakers may need to adjust. Scrap tug-of-war: the US pull, Europe’s leak and the recycling base at stake The pull starts with price. The US UBC scrap benchmark averaged USD 2,322.89 a tonne in July, USD 2,491.22 in August and USD 2,602.51 in September. That is a 12 per cent climb, and it came after a July that opened at USD 2,464.98 and fell to USD 2,270.76 within two days....
Nespresso is expanding its aluminium coffee capsule recycling network across New Zealand, adding 25 JB Hi-Fi stores as collection points and bringing the total number of participating retail locations to 138. The move gives coffee drinkers more places to return used capsules, helping make recycling a little easier after that final, satisfying sip. The new collection points join existing locations at Briscoes and Noel Leeming stores. The expansion also complements other return options available through Nespresso, including its boutiques, public collection points, NZ Post drop-off locations and courier collections from customers’ homes. The aim is to make returning used capsules more convenient, recognising that a single collection method will not work for everyone. For those who enjoy...
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• Steady-state operations in Geelong, with salt slag recycling plant operating to specification and AL80 plant in final commissioning phase • 24-hour operations to commence in January • Significant progress for completion of AL80 customs paperwork, delays unrelated to product performance • US site announced in Russellville, KY with settlement scheduled for late Jan 2012 • Existing building to assist with project development costs and timeframes • Considerable government grants and incentives to assist with project development • Additional contract negotiations ongoing • Financial modelling to be provided in due course • Project finance favouring non-dilutionary mechanisms with roadshow planned to increase investor awareness and provide on-market support AUSTRALIAN ALUMINIUM OPERATIONS...
Aluminum used beverage can (UBC) recycling rates reversed course in November, posting a decline after logging slight gains in October. However, the year-to-date total stands at 1.37 billion pounds, up 3.2 percent from the 2010 year-to-date total of 1.33 billion pounds.
Rather than recycling more, Defra is proposing to change the rules covering the recycling of aluminium so that it looks as if it is achieving better performance targets. It is also proposing very modest or no increases in recycling rates on some materials, and floats, then appears to dismiss, the return of a deposit system for bottles. The proposals come in a new consultation on recovery and recycling targets for packaging waste for 2013-2017. Tetrapak and the vanishing aluminium Currently, between 16 and 20,000 tonnes of aluminium are lost each year because the material is found in composite packaging such as drinks cartons, which can't be recycled. Rather than attempt to recover this waste, Defra is seeking to revise the reporting rules and pretend that it doesn't exist. 60,304 tonnes...
Aluminium recyclers have welcomed new tougher packaging recycling targets published by the government last week, and praised plans to reclassify composite packaging containing aluminium in line with other European countries. On Friday, environment secretary Caroline Spelman announced the proposed targets for packaging recycling for 2013-17, with the material-specific target for aluminium set to rise by 15% to 55% in 2017 (see letsrecycle.com story). In order to help businesses meet the targets, Defra proposed that composite packaging might no longer be counted in the overall waste figure for aluminium, meaning that the percentage of aluminium packaging that is recycled would rise. This move has been well received within the industry. Rick Hindley, executive director of aluminium producer...
Collection of metals from bottom ash at waste-to-energy plants can make an important contribution to a more resource-efficient Europe. The Packaging Group of the European Aluminium Association (EAA) and the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP) estimate that, for Europe as a whole, up to 200 000 tonnes of additional aluminium could be recycled each year from this ash, which is the residue from combusted household waste. To realise this goal, both organisations are calling on more local waste management operators to invest in the right separation equipment and on EU member states to take a more ambitious approach to preventing landfilling. Several European countries are already recycling valuable ingredients from bottom ash. Typically, one tonne of this ash contains...
An Australian company expects that its planned Logan County facility will reclaim about 25 percent of U.S. aluminum manufacturing waste that’s now going to landfills. Simon Wells, executive director of MHM Metals, which will do business under the name Alreco, said production at the old ITW building on Ky. 79 should begin by the end of the first quarter of 2013. This will be the first U.S. plant using technology proven in Australia that breaks down the waste products of aluminum manufacturing - aluminum saltcake and dross - and returns it to usable products, Wells said. “We even expect to begin reclaiming some of those materials that have already gone to landfills,” he said. Wells, Gov. Steve Beshear and a host of officials made the announcement Monday to a room filled with about 175...
Building materials such as DecoWood timber look aluminium products, available from Decorative Imaging are highly sustainable, according to findings from a recent global research by the International Aluminium Institute. The research into the sustainability of aluminium reveals that while the life cycle of most building products is referred to as ‘cradle to grave’, the recyclability of aluminium ensures it is more ‘cradle to cradle’ as aluminium building products head back to the recycling centre once they reach the end of their long useful life. Approximately 75% of all the aluminium ever produced is still being used in some form, having been through countless loops of its life cycle. Aluminium can be recycled an unlimited number of times with negligible loss of properties so that...
The US-headquartered Aluminum Association has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Aluminium Association of India which aims to boost recycling of the metal. The associations agreed to cooperate to improve recycling by exchanging information on reuse programmes in transportation, packaging, and building and construction markets. The two organisations also outlined plans to improve the exchange of information on end use demand in the transportation, packaging, and building and construction markets, as well as data gathering techniques to improve the timeliness and accuracy of reports. Additional cooperation will occur in the area of health and safety benchmarking: the associations will exchange information on health and safety programs to promote and improve best practices....
IF you are offering to invest millions of dollars and provide some jobs in the US at the moment, the Americans are happy to roll out the red carpet. Which is why Aussie company MHM Metals managed to get a standing ovation from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and a brace of officials this week after announcing it will buy a $25 million aluminium slag reprocessing facility in Russellville. Even nicer than the applause was a little more than $US1 million in incentive grants with the potential for more to come as NHM starts work on a 250,000 tonne a year facility to process aluminium slag (known in the US as saltcake) and black dross. At the moment, all of that waste material from aluminium processing goes to landfill but NHM's process, which is now working on a smaller scale in Geelong, can...
Global: With China, Brazil and India becoming growth centres for aluminium-based products, the demand for primary aluminium is set to reach 75 million tonnes by 2020, according the International Aluminium Institute. Production of primary aluminium reached 40 million tonnes last year; around 10 million tonnes of the metal came from recycling industrial scrap and another 10 million tonnes was produced by recycling aluminium. ‘The current supply of aluminium is 60 million tonnes, of which 20 million tonnes is from recycling,’ explains Chris Bayliss, IAI’s Director of Global Projects. ‘However, these 20 million tonnes will remain stagnant and reduce over the years.’ There is a strong demand for primary aluminium in China, Brazil and India as construction, electrification and manufacturing...
MHM Metals has chosen to locate its new manufacturing operation in Russellville, company officials, community leaders, Governor Steve Beshear said today. The company, which will do business under the name Alreco, plans to purchase the former ITW building, which will result in 30 new jobs and a more than $25.1 million investment in the Commonwealth. “As one of the top aluminum producing states, the aluminum industry in Kentucky is a critical piece of the industrial landscape, employing more than 13,000 Kentuckians,” Beshear said. “Global companies such as MHM Metals continue to find the Commonwealth to be the ideal place to do business and this more than $25 million investment is further proof of our success. We welcome MHM Metals’ new manufacturing facility and the 30 jobs it will...
TEWKESBURY’S Learning Disabilities Service has appealed for local people to recycle all their aluminium foil and drinks cans this Christmas by dropping them in to the offices in Station Road. The service provides a range of activities for adults with learning disabilities to experience and the group collects, sorts and bales the aluminium and sells it to help fund their community work. All aluminium foil such as take-away and ready meal containers, mince pie cases, dairy lidding and wrapping foil can be recycled. The foil needs to be clean. A service spokesman said: “There are big environmental benefits as aluminium can be recycled again and again with no loss of quality, saving more than 95 per cent of the energy used to make it from raw material. “So do your bit over Christmas and you...
Atlanta-based Novelis Inc, part of the Aditya Birla group’s Hindalco Industries, Asia’s largest integrated aluminium and copper producer, has raised debt of $225 million (Rs 1,170 crore) to complete the purchase of its Korean subsidiary. It will pay $125 million (Rs 650 crore) cash to seal the deal. The stake purchase of 31.2 percent in Novelis Korea will raise Novelis Inc’s holding to nearly 100 percent. Novelis is the world’s largest recycler of aluminium cans used by beverage companies. The Korean subsidiary will service the Asian and North African markets. "Our decision to buy out the minority shareholders in Novelis Korea represents another key step in Novelis' strategy to prepare for future growth in Asia," said Phil Martens, president and chief executive of Novelis. Part of its...
For the first time, today's print edition of The National comes to you on recycled paper. As the UAE strives to improve its record in recycling, we are proud to make a move in the right direction. But this one step reveals the length of the journey the country is still only starting: the recycled newsprint you are holding comes from overseas, because recycling technology, management and systems are all in their infancy here. In many places around the world, newspapers, magazines, office paper, glass bottles, aluminium cans, plastic bottles and many more products are routinely recycled, instead of being tossed into landfills as such items generally are here. Even better, in some cities local government, a private contractor or both actually make money from recycling. Getting to that...
Atlanta-based Novelis, the world's leading producer of rolled aluminum and the global leader in beverage can recycling, is teaming up with the Atlanta Falcons, Falcons fullback Pro Bowl Ovie Mughelli and the "Commissioner of Tailgating" to promote aluminum beverage can recycling. Falcon's fans are invited to a Novelis tailgate party prior to the Dec. 15 game between the Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Georgia Dome. The Novelis party will take place at Falcons Landing outside the Dome from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Helping to host the event will be Joe Cahn, the self-proclaimed Commissioner of Tailgating, who is crossing the country in his RV as part of the Aluminum Association's Can Crusade to bring the message of aluminum recycling to fans at 17 NFL stadiums. The Novelis tailgate...
The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) and its US counterpart, The Aluminium Association (TAA), on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding for exchange of information on effective recycling programmes in the transportation, packaging and building and construction markets. The MoU will help increase the per person consumption of aluminium in India over the next few years, as several sectors are driving the growth. In the process, sustainability assumes paramount importance where the US can guide the Indian aluminium industry, according to KSS Murthy, honorary general secretary of AAI. “The aluminium industries of the US and India are dedicated to promoting the benefits of the metal in three major markets —transportation, packaging and building and construction. A key benefit is...
Steve Solomon, Solomon Metals Corp. provides a commentary on the nonferrous scrap market in North America. The supply of copper scrap seems to be relatively consistent and buying metals is not as much a problem now. The markets have recovered from the large fall in September. Now that copper is back in the $3.50 range, material is back flowing again. Aluminum prices aren’t changing, regardless of what the market is doing and tending to get weaker. We won’t see any kind of major movement in the aluminum prices maybe until the end of the first quarter of 2012, assuming that we get bad weather in the Northeast. For the next two months, at least going into the Asian markets, we see a definite slowdown as they slow their buying down ahead of the Chinese New Year, combined with what we believe...
Across Europe some 70 million tonnes of waste were incinerated in waste to energy facilities during 2009. Despite best efforts to process only residual waste and divert recyclables, large quantities of metals and minerals remain in the resulting 16 million tonnes of bottom ash. As commodity prices remain high, Carsten Spohn and Marta Gurin explore some of the recycling opportunities presented. Resource efficiency, sustainable growth and climate protection are important challenges for European society. With growing demand for virgin and recycled materials it is becoming increasingly important to make the best use of our resources. Waste management has a role to play in meeting these challenges. In Europe we can observe steady improvements in waste treatment and reduction of impact from...
