The sorting facility will be located next to the extrusion ingot recycling plant and will provide 16 new local jobs. By introducing Hydro's state-of-the-art HySort technology, Hydro Wrexham will be able to increase sorting accuracy and capacity, as well as increasing the ability to recycle post-consumer aluminium scrap.

"This new facility enables us to optimally sort a large variety of post-consumer scrap grades that are mainly exported out of the UK today, before continuing to the next step of the recycling process. This is an essential improvement in material flow that allows us to meet the increasing demand for low-carbon aluminium that we see particularly within the automotive, transport, and building and construction segments," says Barry Salisbury, Hydro's plant manager in Wrexham.

The use of post-consumer aluminium scrap significantly reduces the CO2 footprint compared to so called pre-consumer, or process scrap, and primary aluminium. The investment in the sorting facility at Wrexham is one of several investments to reach Hydro's overall ambition to step up growth investments in recycling towards 2030. The scrap will be sourced from local scrap suppliers in the region.

"In Hydro we are always looking for opportunities to reach our recycling ambitions. Our recycling plant in Wrexham is already an essential producer of high-quality aluminium in the UK market. With the increasing interest from European customers to buy low-carbon aluminium, this sorting facility is a logical next step in optimizing our recycling processes by using a wider range of post-consumer aluminium scrap," says Ingrid Guddal, Head of Recycling in Hydro Aluminium Metal.

Construction of the sorting facility will commence in the autumn of 2024, and the plant is expected to be operational by January 2026.

Hydro's low-carbon aluminium products carry a carbon footprint below 4 kilo CO2-equivalents (CO2e) per kilo aluminium and are designed to help customers reach their sustainability goals and meet the growing demands of climate conscious consumers.

Hydro offers full transparency about the environmental impact of the metal from the mine or scrap to the final aluminium product. The carbon footprint documentation of Hydro's products covers all process steps, and even includes input materials and transportation (Scopes 1-3).

  • By 2050, Hydro aims to become a climate-neutral company that produces climate-neutral products for a climate-neutral society. By investing in new technology and increasing recycling, the company will achieve its goal of reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030, compared to 2018 levels.
  • Full decarbonization will be achieved by recycling more used aluminium in combination with the adoption of new technologies. This includes carbon capture and storage, the use of hydrogen and biogas as energy sources, and in addition, new, proprietary technology that has the potential to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from primary aluminium production.

Learn more about Hydro's roadmap to zero emission aluminium production.

Published: 24 April 2024

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Norsk Hydro ASA published this content on 24 April 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 24 April 2024 08:29:06 UTC.