Kaiser says it is committed to recycling in Indiana

The CEO of Franklin, Tennessee-based Kaiser Aluminum, in opening remarks to the firm’s newly released 2023 sustainability report, says the growing use of recycled metal as feedstock at its Warrick rolling mill in Newburgh, Indiana, is a key part of the company’s sustainability strategy.

Kaiser President and CEO Keith A. Harvey describes the Warrick plant acquired by Kaiser in 2021 as one of only four dedicated aluminum can sheet mills in North America.

“When we acquired Warrick, the mill relied on energy from a coal-fired power plant and primary aluminum from an adjacent smelter—which also relied on energy from the same coal-fired source," he says. "We knew this needed to change.

“In 2023, we exited our metal supply agreement with the adjacent smelter and successfully implemented a new metal input strategy at the rolling mill. This allows us to utilize a significantly higher proportion of used beverage cans (UBCs) and recycled aluminum sources in our mix—in turn greatly reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint and costs.”

Kaiser Aluminum has 14 production sites in total—13 in the United States and one in Canada—and lists recycling and resource efficiency by increasing its use of scrap and recycled aluminum as one of three major GHG emissions reduction strategies across all sites.

"We believe there will be greater opportunity to source and use recycled aluminum, benefiting both costs and emissions," Kaiser says in its report. "We already work with customers to establish closed-loop partnerships that reduce emissions and enhance resource efficiency. We anticipate our industry partnerships will continue to expand in the future.”

Beyond its Indiana site, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the company introduced a cast house to improve melting efficiency, as well as installed melter technology to allow us to melt postconsumer painted aluminum scrap.

In terms of closed-loop arrangements, Kaiser says it works with Boeing to to revert aluminum scrap created through its manufacturing process back to its Trentwood facility in Spokane, Washington.

The full Kaiser Aluminum 2023 sustainability report can be accessed here.