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...
Europe’s aluminium scrap exports to the US have risen by 243 per cent, highlighting a growing concern over the continent’s access to strategic raw materials as it pursues recycling, decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness. Evangelos Mytilineos, Executive Chairman of METLEN, raised the issue, linking scrap outflows to the broader challenges facing European industry, energy security and strategic autonomy. Aluminium scrap outflows raise industrial concerns Mytilineos referred to the contrasting US tariff treatment of aluminium products, i.e., a 50 per cent tariff on primary aluminium, compared with zero tariff on scrap . With European aluminium scrap exports to the US increasing by 243 per cent, he questioned whether Europe could strengthen its industrial base while allowing valuable...
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Orbex has unveiled the world's first marketplace for the trade of internationally certified recycled metals, intending to create a circular economy. The platform facilitates the trading of environmental commodities and has secured one of the largest supplies of recovered ferrous metal in North America, as well as access to 2% of the global recycled aluminium and copper markets. Recycled aluminium is one of the non-ferrous metals with the lowest carbon content as it stays in the material loop forever, negating the percentage of CO2 emissions with each cycle. To ensure the authenticity of all secondary metals transacted, the company applies a certification of origination (COO), which details the materials' proof of provenance and origin. Orbex develops authentication standards and processes...
The Hurunui District Council has collected record-breaking 24 sacks of aluminium wine bottle lids to help patients suffering from kidney failure and their families in Canterbury during the 2022-2023 year. The council partners with the Amberley Lions Club, which sells these aluminium lids for recycling and donates the proceeds to the Christchurch Kidney Society. This initiative has received support from various organizations and aims to give back to the Canterbury communities. Sally Cracknell, the path shower to the Council's Waste Minimisation Team, claimed that the collection has heightened from the 2021-2022 phase, accumulating a sum of 13 sacks full of aluminium lids. "It's only beaten by the 2019-2020 year, which had included unused lids from the district's wineries, inflating the...
#InTheLoopGM, a new campaign highlighting the importance of a ‘circular economy’ has been launched in Great Manchester by Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) group, urging citizens to recycle products like aluminium cans, jars, etc., at home and reuse and repair whenever feasible. In terms of recycling, the people in Manchester are doing the right thing, but through this campaign, they want to ensure that more items are recycled to promote a greater circular economy. Recycling conserves resources and energy; for example, recycling aluminium can consume 95 per cent less energy than manufacturing it from scratch. Aluminium cans , glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles are all part of a large loop, which means they can be recycled repeatedly. Aluminium cans, glass bottles, and jars...
Found Energy has developed a ground-breaking technology that utilizes water to oxidize aluminium, converting stored energy into hydrogen and heat. This innovative process is capable of functioning with low-grade and contaminated aluminium waste. According to Gadi Ruschin, Co-Founder, they can easily transport aluminium and oxidize it at high power density in an aqueous environment that requires hydrogen. This is a safer, more straightforward, and more efficient method than transporting hydrogen, as aluminium has a ten-fold higher energy density than liquid hydrogen. The company further explains that each tonne of aluminium has approximately 8.6MWh of stored energy, one of the most volumetrically energy-dense materials, with a rating of 23MWh/m³. Rushin elaborated: "A single aluminium soda...
Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) is the new home to Sparklo's reverse vending machine. Sparklo, a cleantech firm aiming to overhaul the recycling business, is a manufacturer and operator of reverse vending machines (RVMs), enabling customers to recycle aluminium cans and plastic bottles in exchange for simple incentives such as discount coupons for food or delivery services. "We are not here to highlight the harmful consequences of waste pollution as people are already aware of it. We want to transform recycling into an easy and joyful practice through edutainment. We are trying to push recycling as part of community lifestyle and eliminate the root cause of the 'plastic problem'," said Maxim Kaplevich, the founder of Sparklo. Sparklo's Ras Al Khaimah manufacturing plant in Al Hamra...
US-based energy company AES Corporation has signed an agreement with Solarcycle, a solar recycling company, to recycle and repurpose modules from AES’ projects at Solarcycle’s Texas facility. Solar panels are composed of large amounts of aluminium and silica. The agreement formalizes the collaboration between the two companies. This partnership began in April when decommissioned panels from an AES plant in Arizona were recycled at Solarcycle’s Odessa, Texas location. AES has also announced a pilot program to assess end-of-life and construction breakage waste across its solar PV portfolio. Unlike other materials, aluminium can be recycled repeatedly, creating a circular economy. Solar panels are also the epitome of an eco-friendly lifestyle. What metal can do more justice to the...
RATH has been providing advanced refractory solutions for aluminium melting furnaces for almost 40 years. Recently, they developed a solution for relining a hearth-type melting furnace at Aluminium GmbH Nachrodt (AGN) in Germany. The project was completed in just 21 days, including the removal and relining. A high-quality and long-lasting refractory lining is crucial for efficient melting plant operations. RATH has over 130 years of experience in refractory technology and offers a comprehensive range of refractory and thermal insulation products for the aluminium industry. They successfully completed the technically demanding relining project during the 2022 Christmas holidays, which involved rebuilding the burner technology of the top furnace. RATH used precast concrete components to...
The prices of imported aluminium scrap into India have decreased by $50-60 per tonne this week compared to the previous week. This is due to unimpressive London Metal Exchange futures prices. While prices have declined steadily, market sentiment remains uncertain due to highly volatile LME futures. Confusion prevails as no firm bids have been heard from buyers, making it challenging for participants to estimate the market trend. China's factories and businesses were not optimised as it was supposed to in April, and people did not spend as expected, although their expenditure increased compared to last year. Industrial production only grew by 5.6%, which is much lower than experts predicted. However, this is still an improvement from March's 3.9% growth. The three-month aluminium futures...
During their annual meeting in Milan on May 12th, the National Aluminium Packaging Consortium (CIAL), a non-profit organization in Italy, shared the impressive results of their waste management model for recycling aluminium packaging. The waste management programme aligns with the European Green Deal's new Circular Economy Action Plan observations. CIAL reported that a gigantic 73.6% of aluminium packaging waste was successfully recycled in the previous year, surpassing Italy's recycling targets for 2025 (50%) and 2030 (60%). If energy recovery was included, this percentage increased to an even more astounding 78%. The president of CIAL, Carmine Bruno Rea, mentioned: "For aluminium packaging, 'disposable' is an almost outdated concept, while 'use and recycle' is increasingly widespread."...
German footwear brand nat-2 has teamed up with Remeant, an Israeli start-up specialising in novel fabrics, to bring a vegan sneaker made from used and recycled aluminium foil into the market. nat-2 has named this initiative the 'Reduceusecycle' collection, which tries to identify new, never-before-used materials to reuse and upcycle. The vegan, unisex nat-2 'Sleek Alchemist' sneaker is the result, with an upper constructed of repurposed aluminium foil and shiny glass. The company is known for its commitment towards exploring unique and natural materials like stone, coffee grinds, cork, mushrooms, fish leather, flowers, leaves and others. The inside comprises nat-2 bio-ceramic, the replaceable insole is made of genuine cork, and the outsole is made entirely of rubber. The heel and tongue...
Aluminium scrap exports from the United States closed at 174,374 tonnes in March 2023, up 11 per cent from 157,101 tonnes in February. However, exports declined by 2 per cent Y-o-Y in March, compared to 178,575 t in the same month last year. The principal scrap grades shipped by the US were Zorba and Taint Tabor (TT), and India was the second biggest importer of aluminium scrap from the US. Compared to other US locations, Los Angeles had the most scrap migration, followed by New York and Norfolk. The United States shipped 38,126 tonnes of aluminium scrap to Malaysia in March, an increase of 23 per cent Y-o-Y from 31,007 tonnes in February. Similarly, US exports increased by 28 per cent Y-o-Y in March, from 29,687 tonnes the previous month. Malaysia imports the majority of its aluminium...
The recycling industry is currently experiencing a high demand due to the increasing importance of sustainability and environmental awareness. Audi, through its MaterialLoop Project, is investigating the process of downcycling, which occurs when recycled materials such as metals or plastics are degraded in quality. Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings have partnered to support a new grant initiative led by the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) in Washington to enhance the installation of aluminium can-capturing modules in material recovery facilities (MRFs). The acquisition of Alumetal is a complex process that involves achieving several key milestones, including obtaining clearance from the European Commission. The European Commission (EC) has reportedly approved unconditional...
Jason Momoa, the 'Aquaman' star, launched his canned water business Mananalu in 2019 with a vision to replace single-use plastic bottles with recyclable aluminium ones. The bottles at Mananalu are composed of 69 per cent recycled aluminium. As per the latest reports, the 'Game of Thrones' star celebrated Earth Day by launching a new range of flavoured water in 22-ounce (oz) aluminium cans. The announcement of the same was made by Momoa on his social media account. Momoa also sipped the new flavoured water, revealing the new passion flavour in recycled aluminium cans. The actor and activist did not stop there. He also cast one of his pals as "Plastic Pete," a litterer brought down by Momoa on the New Zealand beach where the skit was shot. At the end of the video, Momoa disclaimed that no...
The Union County Board of County Commissioners announced their upcoming free scrap metal recycling drop-off events for May 2023. From April through November, a range of metal objects, from home appliances to gutters and sheds, are accepted at two countywide collection locations in Cranford and Rahway. Items like air conditioners, aluminium scrap , aluminium siding, bicycles, brass, copper, dishwashers, electric fans, fencing (chain/wire), freezers, gutters, irons, lawn furniture, metal cabinets, metal sheds, microwaves, pots and pans, railings, refrigerators, stoves, tyre rims, toasters, washers and dryers, window frames (no glass) and wire hangers are all acceptable items for recycling. "These free drop-off sites provide our residents with a convenient way to dispose of old, broken or...
Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings have allied to fund a new grant under the keen eye of Washington-based Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) to further facilitate the rigorous efforts of mounting aluminium can-capturing modules in material recovery facilities (MRFs). AMP is a Luxemburg-based beverage can manufacturing company, while Crown Holdings is a similar firm based in Philadelphia. CMI will partner with both firms to lay out the transactions, though it has not released any statement about the amount pledged by AMP or Crown. The Recycling Partnership, a Virginia-based organisation, will be responsible for working with the grant winners to understand the chronology of each project. After reviewing, they would issue the grants and channelise the upgrades and costs. CMI has...
Panellists at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2023 Convention & Exposition (ISRI2023) Spotlight on Aluminium session discussed investments in the North American aluminium value chain and potential impacts on aluminium scrap trade between the United States and India. "Unprecedented investment was occurring. And it's remarkable to see that the aluminum industry continues to evolve, change and grow as it continues its history. The market was precariously balanced as of mid-April. That's not good news. That's not bad news. It's just where we are at this point in time," said Steve Williamson, North America research manager for London-based CRU Group. Steve Williamson also said that secondary aluminium demand peaked from 2020 until the summer of 2022. Due to limited supply,...
Metallurgists and chemists are working on a less fantastical but comparable problem: recycling materials to the same grade 'A' quality they began life in. For instance, recycling steel may seem simple. Still, it isn't, and according to the German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles Audi, just a tiny portion of the materials removed from used automobiles, including steel, are used in new cars. Therefore, recycled steel from discarded automobiles is more likely to be used in the building and construction industry rather than being reused for body skins, chassis, suspension, or other components. The MaterialLoop project , in which Audi is a partner, explores this downgrading of materials when they are recycled, whether they be metals or plastics. It is known as "downcycling." The...
The European Commission (EC) has reportedly approved unconditional merger clearance for Hydro's acquisition of the Polish aluminium recycler Alumetal S.A. In April 2022, Hydro first announced a tender offer to acquire Alumetal with an all-cash transaction worth $240.4 million. But it expired during the phase 2 merger review by the European Commission. Later on, at the end of April 2023, Hydro resumed the offer process to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in Alumetal. The subscription period is expected to remain open till 2023, and the acquisition is likely to close in early July if all other conditions get fulfilled. The European Commission's merger clearance approval is one key milestone of the many to complete the acquisition of Alumetal. This deal will strengthen Hydro’s recycling...
