Alcoa, Hydro announce cutbacks on the continent.
Two global aluminum producers have announced cutbacks at primary aluminum production sites in Europe, with rising energy costs listed as a factor in the cutbacks.
United States-based Alcoa Corp. in late December 2021 announced it had reached an agreement with workers’ representatives at its San Ciprián aluminum plant in Spain “aimed at resolving ongoing challenges that stem from exorbitant energy prices.”
The agreement calls for a two-year curtailment of the smelter’s 228,000 metric tons of annual capacity and a commitment by Alcoa to begin the restart of the smelter in January 2024.
“With this agreement, we now have a path to resolve the significant challenges that the facility has faced and can begin to build a stronger smelter in two years,” says Alcoa President and CEO Roy Harvey.
Curtailment activities started Jan. 1. During the curtailment period, Alcoa says it will seek to “secure as soon as possible long-term power purchase agreements beginning from 2024. Also, the company has committed $68 million for capital investments and $35 million for restart costs.
A few weeks earlier, Alcoa unveiled a roster of technologies designed to help it create the low-carbon “refinery of the future for aluminum.” That list included attention to finding new ways to use shredded aluminum scrap.
Also in late December, the board of directors of Norway-based Hydro announced “a further curtailment of primary aluminum production” at the Slovalco plant in Slovakia, of which it is a majority owner.
“The decision will bring production down to around 60 percent of capacity and comes in response to very high electricity prices showing no sign of improvement in the short term,” states Hydro.
Hydro also has indicated it expects to produce its first near-zero carbon aluminum in 2022. The company points to carbon capture and storage (CCS) and its “proprietary HalZero technology” for converting alumina into aluminum chloride in a closed-loop process as technologies that will make this possible.
The aluminum producer also writes, “A third pathway to carbon-free aluminum is by recycling postconsumer aluminum, reducing emissions all the way to zero. This will be made possible by Hydro’s aluminum sorting technology and alloying expertise, in combination with replacing natural gas with green hydrogen or electrical heating at recyclers and cast houses.”
The report analyzes three recycling projects in emerging economies and highlights how investing in behavior change impacts recycling outcomes.
Washington-based Delterra, an environmental nonprofit focused on building recycling systems in emerging economies, in collaboration with New York-based The Circulate Initiative, a nonprofit aimed at ending plastic pollution, has released a report examining how behavior impacts recycling. Called “Making ‘Cents’ of Recycling Behavior: The Return on Investment of Spreading the Recycling Habit,” the report highlights how recycling behavior impacts the economics of recycling.
The report looks at Delterra’s projects in three recycling environments in emerging markets, including an informal settlement in Buenos Aires, Argentina; a set of urban districts in Bali; and a midsized city in Argentina.
“Delterra’s programs on the ground reveal the power of behavioral interventions and the importance of having a holistic approach in dealing with waste management and recycling,” says Ellen Martin, director of impact and insights at The Circulate Initiative. “By investing in these interventions alongside infrastructure, we can improve the financial sustainability and efficiency of recycling and support a more circular economy.”
According to a joint news release, around 80 percent of postconsumer waste could be recycled or composted. However, when communities don’t separate waste from the source, most materials remain out of reach for the recycling industry.
The report states that boosting recycling behavior presents an opportunity to improve the business case for recycling overall. Recycling faces a supply shortage because of inaccurate waste segregation by consumers, according to the report. Driving change in recycling behavior can help recycling break the cycle of insufficient demand and supply by improving the yield and thus the recycling value chain’s economics.
The report also says consumer behavior change can pay back initial costs in four years. Based on the sales value of new recyclables, additional savings from landfill fees and credit for environmental benefits, it would typically take Delterra’s projects to up to four years to earn back the cost of community engagement campaigns.
The Circulate Initiative and Delterra say behavior change costs less than technology-based alternatives for boosting recycling outcomes. Promoting change in recycling behavior costs between $50 and $150 for every additional ton of recyclables per year. This is compared with waste-sorting technology, which costs between $200 and $700 per ton to produce similar results.
“Because Delterra’s programs integrate community behavior change with waste management operations, we had the data to really look at the value that better recycling behavior generates for the rest of the system,” says Cynthia Shih, Delterra’s director of knowledge. “We would love to see more players in the circular economy investing in recycling behavior change and contributing insights on how best to deliver return on investment.”
The report's authors say they hope the report findings will help such organizations to avoid underinvesting in behavior change as more developed markets have in the past. For more information about this report click here.
The company says the acquisition expands its access to recycling technologies and plastic scrap for feedstock.
Trinseo, a global materials solutions provider and manufacturer of plastics and latex binders that is based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, has acquired Heathland B.V., a recycler of postconsumer resin (PCR) and postindustrial resin (PIR) that is based in Utrecht, Netherlands.
“The addition of Heathland to the Trinseo family enables the group to have access to comprehensive recycling technologies and plastic scrap as feedstock,” says Francesca Reverberi, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer of Trinseo. “The shared sustainability vision of both companies has now become one.”
According to a news release from Trinseo, Heathland is focused on converting PCR and PIR polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polystyrene and other thermoplastic scrap. The company collects, pretreats and processes plastic scrap materials using mechanical and chemical recycling processes and turns them into recycled raw materials for various applications.
Trinseo says the acquisition aligns with its 2030 Sustainability Goals, which focus on tackling climate change, embedding sustainability in its product portfolio and promoting supplier and operational stewardship.
Fire in Belfast, Northern Ireland, may have been caused by “accidental ignition.”
A fire at a scrap metal facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom, took parts of four days to extinguish, according to media reports and a regional fire department.
The Belfast-based Irish Post website says as many as 50 firefighters were on the scene at a Clearway Metal Recycling facility in Belfast starting Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, through Friday, Dec. 31.
On its website, Clearway describes its Belfast location as part of its Export Division. It is one of nine locations operated by Clearway in Ireland or the U.K.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service has communicated via social media that “the cause of the fire is being treated as accidental ignition at this time.”
Accidental ignition could stem from several sources, but increasingly the presence of lithium-ion batteries in recyclable stockpiles has been identified as a culprit.
The company is a partnership between OilQuick USA and OilQuick AB.
OilQuick USA, an Exodus Global company, and OilQuick AB, the manufacturer of the OilQuick Automatic Quick Coupler System, have announced a joint venture to manufacture automatic coupling systems in the U.S. The new company, OilQuick Americas LLC, or OQA, will service the North and South American markets.
OQA is investing millions of dollars in manufacturing machinery at its Superior, Wisconsin, location, according to a news release announcing the joint venture, greatly increasing OilQuick’s manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand.
"Having worked with Ake and Henrik Sonerud for six years now made the decision to form a JV with them easy,” says Kevin Boreen, CEO of Exodus Global. “Their approach to business, commitment to quality and respect they show their employees and customers dovetails perfectly with Exodus Global.”
Boreen adds, "The market for Automatic Quick Couplers in North America is gaining momentum daily. This investment gives OQA the unique ability to service our customers with domestic manufacturing. With over 36,500 coupler systems installed worldwide, no competitor even comes close to the reliability of the OilQuick Coupler."
Henrik Sonerud, CEO of OilQuickAB, says, "The team at Exodus Global is a perfect match for us, having the very same view of business, quality and support for our customers. We are very happy to start this new journey with them.”
He says the partnership is necessary for OilQuick’s expansion in Europe and Asia, adding that it will improve support to the company’s North America customers “by shortening the delivery times and increasing the flexibility."
OQA opened Jan. 1 and says full production of the OilQuick Automatic Quick Coupler System will occur later in 2022.