Novelis Inc. will invest $365 million to build a highly advanced recycling center for automotive aluminum in North America. With an annual casting capacity of 240 kt of sheet ingot, the facility is expected to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by more than 1 million tons per year. The new recycling facility will be built adjacent to Novelis’ existing automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Ky. It will be equipped with processes and capabilities such as advanced shredding and sorting technology. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2022, and commissioning is expected in 2024. When fully operational, the facility will create approximately 140 new jobs.

The center will enable Novelis to grow its closed-loop-recycling programs with more automotive customers in North America. Through closed-loop recycling, the company takes back the aluminum remaining after automotive parts are stamped from sheets and remakes it into the same product for new vehicle production. The center will also have the capability to process aluminum from vehicles at the end of their lifecycle. Using recycled aluminum as input material requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminum, thus avoiding 95% of the carbon emissions associated with production.  

In addition to its Guthrie automotive finishing facility, Novelis operates an aluminum beverage-can recycling plant in Berea, Ky., and the Logan Aluminum joint venture in Russellville, Ky.