The aluminium recycling giant has appointed Abitibi to receive and check aluminium cans collected by suppliers in the North East at its Teesside transfer facility.
 The Teesside site where sorting will take place is one of 27 operated by Abitibi |
Cans will be checked to make sure they meet the Novelis specification, and then sent to its recycling plant in Warrington – believed to be the only dedicated aluminium beverage can recycling plant in Europe.
Novelis already has eight dedicated aluminium can “aggregation centres” in the UK, which it claims helps its suppliers to recycle their cans.
Keith Guest, Novelis Recycling commercial manager, said: “Many of our suppliers are small businesses or community enterprises who would not find can recycling viable if they had to store material until they had a sufficient quantity to deliver to us in Warrington.”
He added: “We have established this network of aggregation centres so that, wherever their cans are collected in the UK, delivery to us is only a local journey. Of course, having regional delivery points makes sense from an environmental point of view too, reducing transport miles and the associated vehicle emissions.”
Sorting
At the Teesside site, which is one of 27 operated by Abitibi, the company already checks and bales source separated paper, textiles, glass and mixed cans which are collected in Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough.
The mixed cans are run along a Magnapower can sorting line which uses eddy current separators, magnets and hand picking to sort them into aluminium and steel. The aluminium cans are then also sent to the Novelis Warrington plant.
Glass is to sent to Berryman's, textiles to the Salvation Army and paper is sent to Abitibi's paper mill at Bridgewater in Cheshire.
David Jaffa, UK operations manager for Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Europe, said: “It's gratifying that our own high quality control standards meet those of Novelis.”
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