Novelis plans new recycling center in South Korea

Novelis has broken ground on a new recycling center at its Ulsan plant in South Korea. 

© Novelis

Novelis has broken ground on a new aluminium recycling center in South Korea. The recycling center, which will have an annual casting capacity of 100,000 metric tons of rolled aluminum ingots, is being built by Ulsan Aluminium, a joint venture between Novelis and Kobe Steel. The facility is expected to be operational in 2024 and will reduce Novelis' CO2 emissions by more than 420,000 tons per year.

Novelis, which operates Asia's largest aluminium recycling center in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, is building the new recycling center to meet long-term global demand for sustainable, low-carbon aluminium sheet for can, automotive and high-value specialty products. The expansion of the Ulsan Recycling Centre will allow Novelis to increase its recycling capacity in Korea by more than 20 percent to 440,000 tonnes.

Novelis is committed to recycling aluminium and has already invested more than $700 million in recycling facilities worldwide over the past ten years and announced further recycling investments of more than $430 million. This fits with the company's ambitious sustainability goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and reducing its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2026.

"As a global leader in sustainable, low-carbon aluminium rolling solutions, we are focused on accelerating the aluminium industry's transition to a circular economy model by increasing the use of recycled materials in our products," said Sachin Satpute, President of Novelis Asia. "This will reduce our carbon footprint - as well as that of our customers and the industry as a whole - and bring us closer to our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050."