Hindalco's Novelis to invest $50 million for recycling center at its Ulsan Aluminum joint venture in South Korea

22 Feb 2022 , 02:32 PM

Hindalco Industries have announced that subsidiary Novelis Inc will be investing approximately $50 million to build a recycling center at its Ulsan Aluminum joint venture in South Korea. Fully funded by Novelis, the Ulsan Recycling Center will have an annual casting capacity of 100 kilotonnes of low-carbon sheet ingot.

Once online, the company expects the recycling center to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by more than 420,000 tons each year.

“This latest capital investment in recycling is another example of our company purpose of ‘Shaping a Sustainable World Together’ in action,’” said Pierre Labat, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, Novelis Inc. “I am excited by the actions Novelis is taking to increase aluminum recycling worldwide and the benefits this will have for our customers and in making aluminum the preferred material for all the markets Novelis serves.”

Novelis, which already operates Asia’s largest aluminum recycling center in Yeongju, South Korea, as well as the world’s largest aluminum recycling center in Nachterstedt, Germany, is making this investment in additional recycling capacity to meet the growing global demand for sustainable aluminum products. In January, the company also announced it would build a new U.S. recycling center in Guthrie, Kentucky. Using recycled aluminum as input material requires only 5 percent of the energy used to make primary aluminum, thus avoiding 95 percent of the carbon emissions associated with production.

Sachin Satpute, Executive Vice President, Novelis, and President, Novelis Asia. “By increasing the use of recycled content, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint as well as that of our customers and the broader industry, and accelerating aluminum’s transition to a fully circular economy.”

Construction of the Ulsan Recycling Center is expected to begin in October, with commissioning expected in early 2024.

At around 2.30 pm, Hindalco was trading at Rs511.25 per piece flat compared to the previous closing on BSE.