Novelis opens production facility in Germany

Novelis, an aluminum rolling and recycling firm headquartered in Atlanta, has officially opened its aluminum ingot production facility in Nachtersewdt, Germany. The company calls the facility the largest aluminum recycling center in the world.

The aluminum production plant, costing around $258 million, will consume up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap per year. The recycling plant will convert the aluminum scrap into ingots that will consumed by Novelis’ European manufacturing operations.

Aluminum ingots produced at Nachterstedt will be hot-rolled at Novelis' facilities in Norf, Germany, and Sierre, Switzerland, and supplied to company operations across Europe for further processing. Finished coils of aluminum sheet will be delivered to customers primarily in the automotive and beverage can markets.

According to Novelis, the facility features technology for aluminum scrap sorting, de-coating, melting and casting. The company also reports the facility will allow Novelis to process a wide range of scrap types, helping to create a more efficient closed-loop recycling system and increasing Europe's domestic scrap consumption.

Phil Martens, president and CEO of Novelis, says, “The Nachterstedt recycling center is a significant step toward our goal to be the world's low-carbon aluminum sheet producer, shifting our business model from a traditional linear approach to an increasingly closed-loop model.”

Martens continues, “This new facility further strengthens Novelis' leadership in Europe, and together with our major recycling operations in Asia, North America and South America, solidifies Novelis' position as the global aluminum recycling leader.”

Over the past three years Novelis says it has invested around $500 million that has resulted in the doubling of its secondary production capacity to 2.1 million metric tons per year and raising its recycled content from 30 percent to 46 percent.

“This strategy will enable us to accelerate and capitalize on the sustainability potential of aluminum as a lightweight, infinitely recyclable metal and to dramatically reduce the embedded carbon in our products,” says Martens. “In an increasingly energy- and carbon-constrained environment, we are convinced it will be a key source of competitive advantage for our company—and for our customers.”

“In developing the recycling and casting facility, we implemented best-in-class technologies to ensure that it meets the highest standards of operational efficiency and environmental excellence,” says Erwin Mayr, Novelis senior vice president and president of Novelis Europe. “To feed the facility, we are expanding and diversifying our scrap purchasing network to ensure the highest quality scrap is recycled back into the same product whenever possible, conserving more metal, reducing waste and using less energy than ever before.”