Novelis recycles record 39 billion cans

Aluminium giant Novelis has broken a company record by recycling an estimated 39 billion aluminium drink cans in the past year. Through recycling the company has reduced the need for 530,000 tonnes of primary aluminium avoiding five million tonnes of greenhouse gases. Novelis president of global procurement and metal management Nick Madden said: “The GHGs avoided through our can recycling programme over the past year is the equivalent of taking more than 900,000 vehicles off the road for 12 months. “When people look for ways to help the planet and reduce their carbon footprint, one easy thing they can do is make sure their empty cans go into the recycling box, not the garbage bin. Every aluminium can that is recycled saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours, and there is no limit to the number of times it can go around the recycling loop.” Recycling aluminium uses just 5 per cent of the energy needed to produce the equivalent of new aluminium from raw materials. Novelis extended its recycling efforts into South Korea recently, which nearly doubled its recycling capacity in Brazil. Aluminium is one of the most recycled products on the planet.