Novelis, a sustainable aluminium solutions provider, has announced a $90m investment to boost recycling capacity at its Latchford plant in the UK.
The project aims to increase the recycling capacity of used beverage cans (UBCs) by 85 kilotonnes per year at the site, which equates to more than 100% growth.
The investment will fund the construction of a new dross house and three new bag houses, alongside the installation of the latest shredding, sorting, de-coating, and melting technologies.
These advancements will not only allow the plant to handle a greater volume and variety of aluminium scrap but also enhance operational efficiency.
Novelis Europe anticipates that the expansion and technological upgrades will lead to an annual reduction of more than 350,000 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions.
Novelis executive vice-president and Novelis Europe president Emilio Braghi said: “Globally, Novelis had an average of 63% recycled content in our products in fiscal year 2024.
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“This investment marks a major milestone in our ambitious programme to further expand our recycling capacity.
“It underscores our strong commitment to sustainability as we continue to drive the transformation of the aluminium industry towards full circularity and lead the market with innovative, high-recycled and low-carbon aluminium solutions.”
The completion of the project is set for December 2026.
Upon completion, the Latchford facility will be equipped to recycle 100% of UBCs anticipated to be collected under the forthcoming UK deposit return scheme.
Novelis expects this scheme to establish a local, fully circular system and eliminate the need to export scrap from the country.
Novelis Latchford plant manager Allan Sweeney said: “Thanks to technological developments, we will be able to recycle all types of UBC scrap, fostering low-carbon and high-recycled content products that support not only our own ambitious sustainability goals, but those of our customers as well.”
In January this year, Novelis signed a new contract with Ardagh Metal Packaging USA for the supply of aluminium beverage packaging sheets.
