Announced yesterday (November 12) by Novelis president and chief executive Phil Martens in New York, the commitment means that all of the company’s can recycling facilities around the world will produce Evercan beverage can sheets in three years’ time.
With a certified 90% recycled content, according to Novelis, the Evercan – first launched in May last year (see letsrecycle.com story) – is the world’s first certified high-recycled content aluminium beverage can sheet, while the industry average is 50% recycled content.
Currently, the company’s Warrington can recycling facility plant on Thelwall Lane, Latchford, in Cheshire, is one of only a handful of Novelis facilities around the world certified to produce the Evercan.
All of the can body sheets produced at the Warrington plant contain at least 90% recycled content, according to Novelis, as will the be the case at all of the firm’s global facilities by the end of 2017.
Warrington plant
Senior manager of sustainability and development at Novelis UK, Andy Doran, said that in terms of operations across Novelis’ UK activities there are not likely to be “any great changes”.
He said: “Globally about half of our can body production is certified to use 90% recycled content, including Latchford, which has been at the leading edge of what the company has been doing to lead low carbon industries. Latchford will continue to be at the forefront of what we do to try and adapt to a circular economy.”
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Opened by Novelis in 1991, the Latchford plant has the capacity to recycle around 130,000 tonnes of used beverage cans per year, which the firm claims is more than every aluminium drink can sold in the UK.
According to Novelis, the UK can market is around 110,000 tonnes a year, which is the equivalent to more than seven billion cans.
Announcing the commitment yesterday, Novelis president and CEO Mr Martens said: “The transition to a low-carbon, circular economy requires innovation and disruption to create measurable impact. Our plan to produce only Evercan body sheet by 2017 is a bold move that extends our leadership in sustainability and is an important part of our long-term strategy to increase the recycled content in our products to 80% by the end of the decade.”
Global
The Evercan body sheet is also produced at Novelis facilities in North America, Europe, South America and Asia, but the company has also enlisted the help of third-party environmental auditor SCS Global Services to share its knowledge of producing high-recycled content beverage sheets with other aluminium manufacturers.
In addition to the Evercan body sheets, Novelis has also recently received certification from SCS Global Services to begin producing high-recycled content can-end sheets, which are used to form the tops of cans. The Evercan end-sheet will be available globally next year, according to the company.
Mr Martens added: “Our can end certification is another step in our long-term commitment to sustainable packaging and further differentiates Evercan in the marketplace.”
Novelis has since 2011 announced capital investments totalling close to $500 million (around £317 million), which it claims will double its recycling capacity to 2.1 million metric tonnes by 2015.
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