Novelis doubles its capacity to recycle used beverage cans in the U.K.

Novelis has announced that it will invest approximately $90 million to increase used beverage can (UBC) recycling capacity at its plant in Latchford, UK. The project will increase the facility’s used beverage can recycling capacity by 85 kilotonnes per year, equivalent to a growth of more than 100%.

“Of all the recycling players in the European market, Novelis has the highest ambition to maximize its recycled content across our entire product range,” said Emilio Braghi, executive vice president of Novelis Europe and president of Novelis Europe.said Emilio Braghi, executive vice president of Novelis and president of Novelis Europe. “Globally, Novelis averaged 63% recycled content in our products in fiscal 2024. This investment marks an important milestone in our ambitious program to further expand our recycling capacity. It underscores our strong commitment to sustainability as we continue to drive the aluminum industry’s transformation towards full circularity and lead the market with innovative, highly recycled, low-carbon aluminum solutions.”

The investment includes the construction of a new dross hopper, three new sleeve hoppers and the installation of state-of-the-art shredding, sorting, scalping and melting technologies, which will enable the plant to recycle a higher volume and new types of aluminum scrap, and increase operational efficiency. The expansion of the recycling capacity, as well as the implementation of advanced technologies, will result in an annual CO2e reduction of more than 350,000 tons for Novelis Europe.

The project is expected to start operations in December 2026. Once completed, the facility will be able to recycle 100 % of the bio-based waste to be collected in the UK’s future waste take-back scheme. This will create a local and fully circular system that will avoid the need to export scrap from the UK.

“The investment in Latchford strengthens our position in the U.K. market as the largest aluminum recycler,” said Allan Sweeney, plant manager of Novelis Latchford.said Allan Sweeney, plant manager of Novelis Latchford.