By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Aluminum major Novelis has reported significant jump in usage volume of recycled aluminum in its manufacturing process. The company’s latest sustainability report states that recycled aluminum material now accounts for more than half the inputs. The use of recycled content has resulted in minimal use of natural resources, the report stated.
The company’s recycled input touched 53% during the fiscal year 2016. This is significantly higher when compared with 49% in 2015 and 46% in 2014. The company has made a big leap in use of recycled content. The company also made significant progress in reducing water intensity and energy intensity at its facilities worldwide. Across all its facilities, Novelis achieved 22% reduction in water intensity. The Novelis plant in Terre Haute, IN reported almost 30% reduction in water intensity. Increased levels of manufacturing efficiencies have helped the company to achieve 24% reduction in energy intensity.
Steve Fisher, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novelis noted that sustainability is core to the company’s business. The company has demonstrated high levels of sustainability within itself and has tried to spread sustainability values to other partners in the aluminum value chain. The company sees tremendous opportunities in expanding the use of recycled aluminum in order to meet higher standards of energy-efficiency, Fisher added.
The sustainability report notes that increased use of recycled content has resulted in 19% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when matched with the FY 07-09 baseline. As the pace of use of recycled content moderates, the company expects to see moderation in GHG emission reductions. Also, the company does not expect its 2020 energy usage goals. This is mainly on account of the increased overall energy usage due to sharp uptick in automotive sheet production to meet rising demand from automotive industry. The company had recently commissioned the third automotive finishing line at Novelis' plant in Oswego, NY to supply lightweight automotive aluminum.
According to the sustainability report, the company achieved lowest total recordable safety incidents in past three years. Also, the rate of number of days away from work has recorded significant improvement of more than 25% over the previous year.
As part of its sustainability initiative, the company supported nearly 350 community projects at 32 sites spread across 11 countries. The Novelis Neighbor initiative, which focuses on service and charities, helped to make communities safer. The company reported more than $5.5 million in community investments.
Recently, the company’s closed loop programme, REALCAR (Recycled ALuminium CARin partnership with automotive major Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had won the prestigious automotive and transportation category at the 2016 aluminium trade fair at Düsseldorf in Germany. The company had developed Novelis AdvanzTM s5754 RC aluminium alloy containing up to 75% recycled content. The new alloy, which was first introduced in the Jaguar XE series, is now featured in all new and legacy Jaguar Land Rover models.
About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminum rolled products and the world's largest recycler of aluminum. The company operates in 11 countries, has approximately 12,000 employees. Novelis supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The company is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited, part of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India.
