At its Neuss plant Hydro Aluminium has commissioned a new recycling line, which is projected to recycle up to 50,000 tonnes of used beverage cans per year. The UBC (used beverage cans) line was officially launched by Group Executive Vice President Kjetil Ebbesberg and Hydro President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg, together with Federal Minister Hermann Gröhe and North Rhine-Westphalia Minister for Economics, Energy, Industry and Commerce, Garrelt Duin. Also in attendance were 150 guests from politics, administration, economy and the neighbourhood as well as construction partners of the UBC project and many Hydro employees.
A total of EUR 45 million was invested in the line, creating 40 new jobs in Neuss. For its customers, Hydro's recycling line offers a closed recycling loop. "We are literally transforming old cans into new cans," said Executive Vice President Kjetil Ebbesberg at the commissioning of the line. After sorting and re-melting, Hydro produces strip material from the old material delivered, and uses it for can ends, tabs and bodies, thus closing the loop for a product with a short life cycle. According to hydro figures, compared to the use of primary aluminium, the recycling of used beverage cans saves 350,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
"The Hydro plant in Neuss is the first to use an advanced, patented sorting technology for used beverage cans. As such, it is capable of processing collected aluminium material with impurity levels of up to 20 percent. That makes this new recycling line the best place to be for every used beverage can," said Svein Richard Brandtzæg at the commissioning. The sensor technology for sorting and separating the different types of used metal is based on technology developed in Hydro’s Research and Development Centre in Bonn, and was tailored specifically for use in beverage can recycling.
The top-ranking politicians, Hermann Gröhe and Garrelt Duin, spoke as honorary guests at the opening ceremony for the line, and lauded the company, with its closely-linked plants in the Rhineland region, for its efficient and resource-saving value-added chain.
North Rhine-Westphalia Minister for Economics, Energy, Industry and Commerce, Garrelt Duin, said: "With the new recycling line it is possible to achieve optimal recycling of used beverage cans. Power consumption and CO2 emissions will be reduced considerably. Hydro clearly demonstrates, this way, the compatibility of modern industry and ecological sustainability."
Federal Minister of Health and regional member of the Bundestag, Hermann Gröhe, said: "With its extensive value-added chains and its jobs the aluminium industry is a strong pillar of the economy in Neuss, Grevenbroich and the entire Rhine district. The company, Hydro Aluminium, with its large number of well-paid industrial jobs, makes an important contribution to the employment situation in the Rhine district of Neuss, and to ensuring a bright future for our region."