Aluminium products company Novelis has opened the world's largest aluminium recycling centre.
Sited next to the company's rolling mill in Nachterstedt, Germany, the €200 million facility has the capacity to process up to 400,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap each year, turning it back into ingots to feed the company's European manufacturing network.
Novelis says the technology for scrap sorting, decoating, melting and casting employed by the new plant will allow it to process a range of scrap types, creating a more efficient closed-loop recycling system.
"The centre is a significant step towards our goal to be the world's low-carbon aluminium sheet producer, shifting our business model from a traditional linear approach to an increasingly closed-loop model," said Phil Martens, president and chief executive at Novelis.
The company's goal is to achieve 80% recycled content in its products, mainly aluminium sheet and foil products for the transport, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics sectors by 2020. Recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy and emissions associated with the production of primary metal.