Reframing scrap: Why the UK must recognise aluminium as a strategic resource

House of Lords Lunch 2026

Aluminium is often described as the ultimate circular material, and in many respects that is true. In the UK, we have built a system over decades that is already highly effective. Collection rates are strong, recycling systems are established, and remelting capability exists across the supply chain. This is not a sector starting from scratch, nor is it one in need of fixing at a fundamental level.

What is less well understood is that the real challenge facing aluminium in the UK is not about recycling performance. It is about value. More specifically, it is about where that value is captured, and whether the UK is in a position to retain it.

Too often, aluminium is still framed as “scrap” and that language matters. It underplays the reality that secondary aluminium is one of the UK’s most important domestic raw materials, particularly in a country with very limited primary production capacity. As highlighted in ALFED’s recent reports, secondary aluminium delivers up to 95 per cent energy savings compared to primary production and plays a central role in both industrial competitiveness and net zero delivery.

At the same time, the UK remains heavily reliant on imported primary aluminium. In 2025 alone, around 68,000 tonnes were imported from the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. That reliance has always carried a degree of exposure, but recent geopolitical instability and disruption to energy-intensive smelting operations in the region have brought that risk into sharper focus. Supply chains that once felt stable are now subject to external pressures that the UK cannot control.