Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced the completion of a £1.7 million upgrade program at its aluminium can recycling plant in Warrington, Cheshire. 

In operation since September 2012, the rotorshredder equipment, which is designed to increase the plant’s capacity to separate plastic contamination from UK-sourced used beverage cans (UBCs), has improved processing volumes by more than 250 percent.

The rotorshredder works in conjunction with a pre-existing optical sorting system to clean contaminated UBCs, leading to efficiencies for other processes and improvements in production levels.

The beverage can market has seen rapid growth over the past few years.  Approximately eight billion¹ aluminium drink cans were filled and sold in the UK in 2011 with a strong recycling rate of 60 percent².

However, UBCs can be difficult to process when they are not separated from other materials that are placed into mixed recycling bins.  The new equipment will improve plant efficiency by removing contamination such as paper and plastic, but is not designed to handle fully mixed recyclables.

This new, state-of-the-art  equipment will enhance both the cleaning and separation capabilities at the plant, allowing Novelis Recycling to make a strong commitment to its UK supplier network – currently over 400 businesses – and to develop new sources of supply to meet the demands of the closed loop recycling system operating within the Warrington plant.

“This investment brings an increased ability to process material from local sources and will make a big impact on our UK operations,” said Brian McCallie, Plant Manager at the Warrington site.  “It’s also an important step toward reaching Novelis’ goal of increasing the recycled content of our products across our global operations to 80 percent by 2020.”

The Novelis Warrington plant also serves as a launch production site for the industry’s first independently certified, high-recycled content aluminium designed specifically for the beverage can market. With a minimum of 90 percent recycled aluminium, the Novelis evercan^™ aluminium beverage can body sheet will allow beverage companies to deliver soft drinks, beer and other popular beverages in a low-carbon footprint consumer package.

About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminium rolled products and the world’s largest recycler of aluminium.  The company operates in 9 countries, has approximately 11,000 employees and reported revenue of $9.8 billion for its 2013 fiscal year. Novelis supplies premium aluminium sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited (BSE: HINDALCO), one of Asia’s largest integrated producers of aluminium and a leading copper producer.  Hindalco is a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. For more information, visit www.novelis.com and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Novelis.