Environmental impact efficient aluminium recycling

The demand for aluminium is changing and increasing rapidly due primarily to electrification and changes in the automotive industry. Virgin aluminium carries a relatively high carbon footprint. Luckily, aluminium is a highly recyclable material. There is however a mismatch between the return scrap to recycle and the most common alloys used with large amounts post-consumer scrap. This requires addition of elements such as Si that significantly increases the carbon footprint and the energy usage in recycling. To address this, new alloys are being developed matching needs of the automotive industry. This is addressed by Bejamin Brash with Stena Aluminium working with aluminium recycling.

The automotive industry is also in a state of change with both the electrification taking place and the large-scale manufacturing route change following the introduction of Giga/Mega casting for floor, frames and battery casings. There are also resilience and resource efficiency discussion and a potential producer take back requirement. The potentials for a closed loop aluminium recycling is being analysed and discussed and a view on the climate impact is presented by Anders E. W. Jarfors.