The leading European aluminium rolling and recycling company, Speira, has unveiled plans to invest €40 million in expanding its recycling capabilities at the Rheinwerk facility. This strategic investment aims to bolster the site's transformation efforts, with a projected annual reduction of up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The company has long been committed to driving sustainable practices and reducing its carbon footprint. With the direction clearly defined, Speira's investment marks a crucial step in the ongoing transformation of the Rheinwerk site, positioning it as a leading hub for environmentally responsible recycling operations.
Boris Kurth, Head of the can business at Speira and the recycling and foundry operations at the Rheinwerk, stated, "We want to become the number one in aluminium recycling in Europe."
"Over the past 20 years, we have already built furnaces with leading recycling capacity in Europe and Europe's most modern sorting plant for UBC scrap, substituting the highly energy-intensive primary production of aluminium. We are consistently pursuing this path and emphasising our commitment to the circular economy with the fourth recycling furnace at Rheinwerk."
The furnace is scheduled to be built in 2025, with production starting in 2026. Additionally, Speira is upgrading the third of four existing casting centres to optimise them for recycling alloys. This enhancement will allow Rheinwerk to reduce its ecological footprint significantly. Overall, Rheinwerk's increased recycling capacity will save up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 compared to producing the same amount of aluminium through primary production.
The new furnace and the remodelling of the casting plant are steps that others will follow.
"With its strategic location in the heart of Europe, we are expanding Rheinwerk into a leading recycling hub for our industry, which is our long-term goal for our complete transformation," explains Kurth.
One-third of the decommissioned smelter will now be dedicated to a new scrap warehouse. This facility will provide storage space and facilities for sampling incoming scrap and preparing it for melting.
"The long halls allow us to think and plan big. This huge new scrap warehouse creates space for the feed for all of our recycling furnaces – not just the new one," Kurth explains.
"We need to sample those types of scrap that have already completed one or more life cycles. These post-consumer scraps are a source we want to utilize even more."
As part of the expansion, the foundry's skimming storage areas will be expanded as well.
Speira's new recycling furnace will be used to melt aluminium alloys, which are then processed into beverage cans after rolling.
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