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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Aluminium alloy 226 prices stabilized in Europe this week in thin market conditions as consumers maintained minimum stocks in the run-up to the end of the year. First-quarter contract talks have continued this week and resulted in a number of buyers fixing prices at the prevailing spot levels. "It was a good time to fix some business," said a German consumer, who added that he had fixed Q1 226 prices at Eur1,680-1,700/mt ($2,237-2,263/mt) delivered Germany, including terms. "We have kept our requirements shorter than in 2011 as there may be a downturn in demand next year," he said, adding that he had also left about 10% "open" for Q1 to take advantage of any further downturn in spot prices. A large automotive producer is holding a "closed" purchase auction next week which is expected to...
More than 243,000 aluminum cans were collected for recycling by students in Fayette County during this year’s Cans for Cash recycling contest. In terms of weight, students collected 7,618 pounds of aluminum beverage cans — 32 percent more than was collected in 2010. The contest challenges public and private schools in Fayette County to collect and recycle as many aluminum beverage cans as possible during the month of October. Students from 26 Fayette County schools — both public and private — competed to see which schools could collect the most cans per student for recycling. This is the sixth consecutive year Lexington schools have participated in this contest. Wise Recycling, Baker Iron and Metal, Phinix LLC, and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Division of Waste...
Coca-Cola Recycling LLC opened a new consumer recycling center in Irving, Texas that accepts and processes aluminum cans and #1 PET plastic beverage bottles. The new center was created to offer free and convenient access to beverage container recycling. The Dallas-Fort Worth area was selected as the pilot market for the Reimagine recycling program, and the first Reimagine Beverage Containers recycling center was opened in Arlington last November. More than 2.3 million containers have been collected and recycled at centers in Arlington, Plano and Garland in less than a year, resulting in almost 100,000 pounds of material diverted from DFW-area landfills. “We know that people want to recycle,” said Alain Robichaud, president of Coca-Cola Recycling, “but when recycling is inconvenient for...
Alusolutions 2013, the Global Forum on Sustainability in the Aluminium Industry, is the definitive event for industry executives. Alusolutions 2013, the Global Forum on Sustainability in the Aluminium Industry, is the definitive event for industry executives. Massive strides have been made by the industry in reducing its carbon footprint. But more needs to be done in order to meet national and international legislation aimed at decreasing CO2 emissions even further. The Alusolutions 2013 conference will focus on environmental issues within the aluminium industry. The challenges facing smelters to reduce their emissions and ways of finding a ‘green’ solution to aluminium making will be discussed. Will established technology solve the problem or should there be more focus on new technology,...
The Cash for Cans campaign lived up to its billing by pumping nearly $4,000 back into the community while recycling more than 7,000 pounds of aluminum cans. Cash for Cans is sponsored by Alcoa and Keep Evansville Beautiful as a way to "get people to realize there is money in those aluminum cans that they've been throwing away," said Amanda Green, civic education coordinator for Keep Evansville Beautiful. Green said, in a news release, the project is working very well based on the number of cans collected. This is the sixth year Keep Evansville Beautiful and Alcoa have worked together promoting the American Recycles Day Cash for Cans Challenge. Tri-State residents were urged to collect cans from Sept. 26 until Nov. 8, cash them in at Tri-State Resource Recovery or Material Recycling and...
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the £5 billion UK metal recycling sector - a globally competitive industry supplying environmentally-friendly raw material to metals manufacturers. Our 300 members trade and process steel, aluminium, copper and most other ferrous and non ferrous metals; and recycle a wide range of related products, such as end of life vehicles, packaging, batteries, domestic appliances, building materials and electronic goods. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has outlined how the sector can work with Government to meet materials recycling and recovery targets and aim for zero waste. It has set out four areas for creating a “truly green economy”, creating green jobs and reducing bureaucracy. They are better regulation and enforcement –...
Select aluminium declined in a restricted trade at the non-ferrous metal market here today on stockist selling as well as subdued industrial offtake following bearish London Metal Exchange (LME) trend. The industrial metal weakened after comments from European Central Bank about worsening eurozone debt crisis making it difficult to find any concrete solution. Aluminium utensils scrap moved down by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 105.
LISBURN residents will soon be able to recycle even more of their waste by putting aluminium foil and trays in their green bins. The fortnightly green bin recycling scheme will now accept clean foil trays such as those used for takeaway food, pie and quiche cases and oven ready meals as well as clean aluminium foil. Councillor Andrew Ewing, Chairman of the Environmental Services Committee, said that with the introduction of the scheme to 47,000 homes in the Lisburn area the Council expects over 8.5 million foil containers will not be sent to landfill. “This carbon busting move is great news for residents who wish to do more for the environment. It also addresses requests from residents to increase the range of containers they can recycle at the kerbside” he said. “The aluminium used in...
Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from land filling) by lessening the need for “conventional” waste disposal. This would result in lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Most countries have adopted recycling as the answer to municipalities’ perennial waste problems. Today, the most common products in urban recycling programmes are paper products, cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminium. Approximately 60% of rubbish thrown out today can be recycled. Recycling benefits are priceless and governments and councils are being urged to invest in recycling.
Secondary aluminum alloy smelters in Spain and Italy are seeking to sell spot cargoes to Japan, but buying interest has been limited so far due to differences in ingot size specifications, Japanese market sources said Monday. Two Tokyo-based trading houses said they had received offers for ADC12 aluminum alloy from two European smelters in the last two weeks. The smelters are currently offering around $2,170/mt CFR Japan main ports for December shipments, traders said. European smelter sales to Japan have been limited in the past as they focused on local market needs. Italy exported only 49 mt to Japan over January-September this year, and Spain 2,362 mt, according to Japanese customs data. The smelters are eyeing Japan nevertheless due to falling car sales in Europe due to the eurozone...
Studsvik of Sweden has signed a contract with the UK’s LLW Repository Ltd (LLWR) for the transport and dismantling of old heat exchangers from the Berkeley Magnox nuclear power plant. Under the £8 million ($12.8 million) contract - awarded by LLWR on behalf of Magnox Ltd - Studsvik will transport five redundant heat exchangers from the decommissioned Berkeley plant to Sweden, where Studsvik will dismantle them and recycle up to 90% of their metal content. The project is scheduled to take place in 2012, leaving a further ten redundant heat exchangers remaining at the Berkeley site. The heat exchangers, each weighing over 300 tonnes, will be transported by road and sea to Studsvik's facility near Nyköping, Sweden. The facility melts metal scrap, such as stainless steel, carbon steel,...
Most of base metals recovered at the non-ferrous metal market here today on moderate stockist buying amid better industrial offtake on the back of rebound in London Metal Exchange (LME). The industrial metal surged at the LME on weak dollar amid renewed buying by investors following Europe decision to take stronger steps to ease funding strains. Aluminium utensils scrap inched up by a rupee per kilo each to Rs 107.
UK secondary aluminium prices were unchanged on Wednesday, November 24 as scrap buyers found greater resistance to falling prices after movements in the exchange rate reopened other markets. LM24 pressure diecasting ingot stayed at £1,500-1,550 ($2,338-2,415) per tonne, while LM6/LM25 gravity diecasting ingot continued to trade at £1,790-1,850. “There’s still a huge amount of negativity out there, but as far as the UK market is concerned no one’s panicking,” an ingot producer said. “One customer asked for an additional 100 tonnes on top of his regular volume, so there’s no reason why prices should go down now.” Business beyond contracted tonnages remains confined to very short-term deals, however, and several producers have been entirely inactive on the spot market this week.
Leading foil tray manufacturer Nicholl Food Packaging is one of the companies behind a major recycling and awareness–building programme undertaken by Alupro, the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, which has enabled foil to qualify for the ‘Widely Recycled at Recycling Points’ labelling under the British Retail Consortium’s On-Pack Recycling Label scheme. The Aerofoil programme was launched in 2009 to help local authorities add foil and aerosols to their collections and promote recycling services. It was funded by Alupro foil converter member companies, the largest of which is market leader Nicholl. Additional funding was provided by the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association, Unilever and Tata Steel. The ‘Widely Recycled at Recycling Points’ recognition has been achieved...
The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham has adopted a number of recycling schemes as part of its drive to become one of the UK’s greenest venues. Following on from the installation of a £330,000 ‘waste pre-treatment centre’ in 2009 that aims to recycle 50% of the venue’s waste by 2013, the centre has teamed up with Overton Recycling in Stourbridge to recycle its waste fridges and other electrical equipment. One of the NEC’s policies is that waste products should travel no more than 30 miles from site for processing; so Overton was chosen to help the venue meet its targets. Fridges will be de-gassed there and shredded with the resulting different waste streams – including copper, aluminium and plastic - recycled. Steve Cartmell, waste manager at the NEC, said: “Our ambitious targets...
THE household recycling service in Larne is being expanded to include clean aluminium foil and trays. Larne Borough Council announced it is making it easier for people to recycle more at home through its fortnightly blue bin recycling scheme by accepting clean foil trays such as those used for take-away food, pie and quiche cases and oven-ready meals, as well as clean aluminium foil. The carbon-busting move, now being introduced to 14,000 homes is expected to prevent 254,8000 foil containers from ending up in landfill sites every year. Director of Environmental Services Philip Thompson said: “This service is great news for households who want to do more to help the environment. It answers calls from many local residents to increase the range of containers they can recycle at the kerbside....
Novelis Inc., the world's largest producer of rolled aluminum and a global leader in aluminum recycling, today announced the commissioning of its euro 14 million recycling centre expansion at Aluminium Norf GmbH (Alunorf) in Neuss. Hannelore Kraft, Prime Minister of North Rhine - Westphalia, officially opened the new facility at a ceremony attended by company representatives, customers and local officials. The event marked the commissioning of the twin-chamber melting furnace and processing plant designed to recycle 50,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap per year to feed the rolling mills of Alunorf. The plant, which is a joint venture of Novelis and Hydro Aluminium, is the world's largest aluminum rolling complex with 2,170 employees. The new Novelis recycling centre will process aluminum...
As the nation celebrated America Recycles Day, the aluminum beverage can industry announced it had collected and recycled more than 3 million cans and raised nearly $75,000 for local charities across the country, the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) announced today. The Rexam manufacturing plant in Elk Grove Village, Ill., won first place in the annual industry competition, with 614,261 cans collected and recycled. Second and third place went to two Ball Corporation plants in the Midwest—Findlay, Ohio took second, and Monticello, Ind., finished third. Findlay and Monticello collected approximately 723,360 cans, and 249,249 cans, respectively. Winners are selected from the highest per-capita collection rates based on the number of pounds of aluminum collected per plant employee. “We are...
