Novelis Inc. is investing approximately $90 million to increase recycling capacity for used beverage cans (UBCs) at its plant in Latchford, UK. The project will increase the facility’s recycling capacity for UBCs by 85,000 tonnes per year, equaling a growth of more than 100%.
“Of all the recycling players in the European market, Novelis has the highest ambition to maximize its recycled content across our product range,” said Emilio Braghi, executive vice president of Novelis and president, Novelis Europe. “Globally, Novelis had an average of 63% recycled content in our products in fiscal year 2024. This investment marks a major milestone in our ambitious program to further expand our recycling capacity. It underscores our strong commitment to sustainability as we continue to drive the transformation of the aluminum industry towards full circularity and lead the market with innovative, high-recycled and low-carbon aluminum solutions.”
The investment project will include the installation of state-of-the-art shredding, sorting, de-coating, and melting technologies, as well as the construction of a new dross house and three new bag houses. This will enable the plant to recycle new types of aluminum scrap while increasing production capacity and improving operational efficiency. The expansion of recycling capacity, as well as the implementation of advanced technologies, will result in an annual CO2e reduction of more than 350,000 tonnes for Novelis Europe.
Once complete, the facility will be able to recycle 100% of UBCs to be collected under the future U.K. deposit return scheme. This will create a local, fully circular system that will avoid the need to export scrap from the UK.
“The investment in Latchford strengthens our position in the U.K. market as the largest recycler of aluminum,” said Allan Sweeney, plant manager of Novelis Latchford. “Thanks to technological developments, we will be able to recycle all types of UBC scrap, fostering low-carbon and high-recycled content products that support not only our own ambitious sustainability goals, but those of our customers as well.”
The project is expected to begin commissioning in December 2026.