Novelis entered into a joint development agreement with DRT Holdings, LLC to accelerate the adoption of high-recycled-content alloys in aluminum beverage can ends. This collaboration aims to improve the manufacturing process for sustainable can ends, ensuring seamless adoption across the global metal packaging industry.
“Novelis is committed to accelerating the transition to a more circular aluminum beverage packaging industry, and this partnership with DRT is a key step in that journey,” said Greg Schlicht, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Novelis. “By working with an industry leader in can end manufacturing, we believe we can ensure that beverage brands and can makers have solutions to accelerate uni-alloy adoption without compromising quality.”
Novelis and DRT are both established leaders in the metal packaging sector. DRT is a leading provider of high-speed manufacturing equipment for beverage can ends, capable of producing up to 3,000 ends per minute. Over the decades, its global equipment footprint has played a critical role in shaping the beverage packaging market.
Based on a strong track record of investment in innovation and advanced recycling capabilities, Novelis is a world leader in high-recycled-content, low-carbon flat rolled aluminum sheet products. With a vision to advance aluminum as the material of choice for circular packaging solutions, the company currently has an average of approximately 85% recycled content in its beverage packaging globally.
By linking their technical expertise, Novelis and DRT will work together to optimize the design, conversion process, and sustainability attributes of beverage can ends made from the same alloy as the can body. This “uni-alloy” design solution enables beverage can-ends to be made from up to 99% recycled content, reducing their carbon footprint by more than half. The goal is to create a uni-alloy end that can be adopted across the global aluminum beverage can market.
This agreement comes at a pivotal time as the global aluminum beverage packaging industry requires innovative solutions to reach sustainability goals at a faster pace. The use of high-recycled-content aluminum alloys in can ends represents an important shift in material innovation, reducing carbon emissions, improving recyclability and strengthening the closed-loop recycling system. Through this partnership, Novelis and DRT will seek to develop solutions that can be adopted across the industry, making it easier for can makers to integrate uni-alloy beverage can ends in their manufacturing processes.
“DRT has a long-standing legacy of innovation, having helped bring the easy-open end to market, and today we’re building on that legacy with a clear focus on sustainability and smart engineering,” said Brandon Rinehart, vice president of Innovation at DRT. “By leveraging our deep technical know-how with Novelis’ advanced recycling and rolling technology, we are unlocking new value and improving efficiencies via sustainability benefits for the entire beverage can industry.”