The move is a direct response to high prices currently seen for aluminium in the world market.
” This is in response to the aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange going through the roof.“
– Rick Hindley, Novelis
But, the company has said it also wants to see if higher prices bring in more aluminium cans to the Novelis plant at Warrington.
Prices were put up by 50 per tonne from November 1, such that a tonne of loose aluminium cans delivered to a regional Novelis processor will now fetch 700 per tonne. For baled cans, a slightly higher price of 750 is now being offered.
Rick Hindley, national business manager for Novelis, said: “This is the first time the price has changed since March 2004 – and it's the highest price we've paid since at least January 2003. This is in response to the aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange going through the roof.”
Targets
Mr Hindley said he was also monitoring how an increased price affects the amount of cans brought into Novelis with regard to the need to meet producer responsibility targets for aluminium packaging waste.
He said: “We're also trying to see how the price will affect more material coming through the gate. Other people have been supporting their prices with PRN (packaging waste recovery note) revenue – that's something we don't believe is necessary. But it will be interesting to see if we are getting more material after this.”
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Mr Hindley said since prices had been put up, the company had already seen aluminium can collectors coming forward that had not dealt with Novelis before.
Novelis is currently expanding the operations at its Warrington plant to reprocess about 120,000 tonnes of aluminium cans each year, and today saw new vehicles arriving to help transfer material on-site. The company is responsible for reprocessing about half of all cans collected in the UK at the Warrington facility, which is Europe's only dedicated aluminium can reprocessing plant.
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