NOVELIS LAUNCHES ‘HIGH-RECYCLED CONTENT’ ALUMINIUM

Aluminium rolling and recycling company, Novelis, has announced the launch of the ‘industry’s first independently certified, high-recycled content aluminum designed specifically for the beverage can market’.

The ‘evercan’ body sheet, developed to lower the carbon footprint of consumer packaging, contains a ‘minimum’ of 90 per cent recycled aluminium and is now commercially available to operators in the beverage can industry. It is hoped the new aluminium sheet will help manufacturers reduce their carbon footprint as the production of recycled aluminium is said to consume as much as 95 per cent less energy that that of ‘primary aluminium’, and result in the emission of approximately 95 per cent less greenhouse gas.

According to Novelis, when used in conjunction with a can end composed of a different alloy, beverage can manufacturers will be able to produce 12-ounce beverage cans made from ‘at least’ 70 per cent recycled metal.

The aluminium has been certified by SCS Global Services, which specialises in environmental, sustainability and food quality certification, auditing, testing and standards development.

Currently available in Europe and North America, the recycled aluminium sheets, will be made available worldwide later this year.

‘Important step’ toward 100 per cent recycled content

Speaking of the launch of evercan, Novelis President and Chief Executive Officer, Phil Martens, said: “We are excited to be able to deliver yet another tangible result of our commitment to sustainable aluminum product innovation.

“Our Novelis evercan high-recycled content beverage can body sheet, backed by the industry’s first independent certification program, represents tremendous progress in sustainable consumer products packaging.

“As the world’s leading supplier of aluminum beverage can sheet, this is an important step toward delivering on our ultimate vision of an aluminum can with up to 100 percent recycled content.” 

SCS Global Services Managing Director, Stowe Hartridge-Beam, added: “We are pleased to have independently certified the exceptionally high levels of recycled content in Novelis' aluminum can sheet, which represents a new benchmark of performance in an industry that has been long known for its recycling efforts.

“Novelis' proven performance is evidence of its commitment to preserving natural resources, reducing waste and advancing sustainability.”

‘A critical catalyst’

According to Novelis, the production of ‘high-recycled content aluminium’ sheet is a ‘key component’ of their global operations plans to increase the recycled contents of its products to 80 per cent by 2020.

Furthermore, Novelis has announced that its global recycling capacity is expected to double to 2.1 million metric tonnes by 2015, following capital investments totalling $500 million (£321 million).

Novelis Chief Sustainability Officer, John Gardner, said:  “This first phase of the Novelis ‘evercan’ high-recycled content initiative serves as a critical catalyst for Novelis to work more closely with consumer brand customers, our supply chain partners and other community stakeholders to increase end-of-life recycling of used beverage containers.

“We encourage wide participation from other aluminum suppliers, beverage and packaging companies, retailers and distributors, recyclers, municipalities, environmental groups and consumers themselves in promoting the use of more sustainable consumer packaging through aluminum recycling.”

Read more about the Novelis ‘evercan’