The UK's largest aluminium can recycler, Novelis, yesterday (February 7) increased the price it pays for aluminium used beverage cans (UBCs) by £70 per tonne, the first boost in the amount it offers to councils and other collectors since September 2010.
The company, which reprocesses the material at its Latchford works, near Warrington in Cheshire, has raised the price for loose, whole and flattened UBCs from £800 per tonne to £870 per tonne, and the price for baled and densified material from £850 per tonne to £920 per tonne.
Mr Doran stressed that Novelis' demand for good-quality UK-sourced UBCs was “consistently strong”, and added: “We saw the aluminium UBC market grow very well in 2010 and therefore the demand for material is very strong.”
This week's price change means the amount offered by Novelis for material is now at its highest point since a week-long period in May 2010 when it offered £875 per tonne for loose and whole UBCs and £925 per tonne for baled and densified UBCs.
It also returns the price to the amount being paid by Novelis for UBCs prior to the slump in recycling markets experienced across a number of materials in the autumn of 2008.
The higher market price for aluminium UBCs mirrors the strong price being paid for non-ferrous metals in general, with prices steadily increasing throughout 2010.
On-the-go recycling
Mr Doran noted that Novelis was beginning to see the benefits of campaigns that aim to capture UBCs away from households in the shape of ‘On-the-go' recycling initiatives and the ‘Every Can Counts' scheme, which has focused on material from businesses and other institutions such as universities.
He said: “In terms of ‘Every Can Counts' and ‘Recycle on the Go', we have seen a strong uptake in terms of membership of schemes and it's starting to reflect through into volumes of cans.”
But, he added: “I don't think we should underestimate the challenges of being able to capture that material.”
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