WASHINGTON, May 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, today announced its induction into the Circular Economy 100 (CE100), a global platform bringing together leading companies, emerging innovators, cities and regions to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The news was announced during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's 2015 Sustainability Forum in Washington, D.C., an event hosted in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to explore the powerful impact of the circular economy with U.S. businesses and stakeholders.
An early adopter of circular economy principles, Novelis has increased the recycled content of its products from 33 percent to 50 percent since 2011, closing the loop on global aluminum production and consumption for society to use again and again, infinitely. Novelis' long-term goal is to achieve 80 percent recycled content, which will eliminate 10 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the global value chain and will cut the company's overall GHG emissions in half compared to 2011 levels. Recycling aluminum requires 95 percent less energy and produces 95 percent fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than manufacturing primary aluminum.
Over the past five years, Novelis has invested more than $500 million in expanding and enhancing its global recycling operations, including constructing the world's largest, most technologically advanced aluminum recycling center in October 2014. The Novelis Nachterstedt Recycling Center features state-of-the-art technology for aluminum scrap sorting, de-coating, melting and casting and enables a wider range of scrap types to be processed. The new facility has expanded and diversified Novelis' scrap purchasing network, ensuring the highest quality scrap is recycled back into the same product whenever possible, conserving more metal, reducing waste and using less energy than ever before, all the while increasing Europe's domestic scrap consumption and limiting transportation to other regions.
The world's largest recycler of aluminum beverage cans, Novelis recycled more than 50 billion used beverage cans in 2014 and continues to be the world's largest supplier of aluminum beverage can sheet, now made with some of the highest levels of recycled content.
Also the leader in supplying aluminum sheet in the automotive industry, Novelis has established closed-loop recycling systems with automakers such as Ford and Jaguar Land Rover to ensure all scrap is fed back into productive loops and valuable material is not downcycled through the supply chain. Through partnerships with customers and collaboration with experts from across the aluminum value chain, Novelis is leading efforts to create guidelines for responsible product design to ensure more aluminum can be captured and recovered at end of product life. Collaborations are already well underway to establish a system for end of life recycling with Jaguar Land Rover.
"Although we are making significant progress within our own business, the circular economy is not something any one business, government or NGO can achieve on its own," said John Gardner, Novelis Chief Sustainability Officer. "The level of widespread economic change that is required to curb climate change, waste to landfill and further detriment to our environment will depend upon partnerships like the CE100. We must come together as global leaders and innovators in order to tackle some of the greatest economic and environmental challenges of our time."
As part of its membership in the CE100, Novelis will play an active role in advising and collaborating with members on circular economy initiatives and serve as a leader and representative of circular economy practices, in addition to supporting the CE100's research and education-based initiatives.
"Novelis is actively putting the principles of the circular economy into practice," said Casper Jorna, CE100 Business Program Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation. "This kind of circular business mindset, working towards designing waste out of the system, will ultimately make the circular economy vision a reality, and we're relying on collaborations with forward-looking companies like Novelis to accelerate this transition."
Novelis was an early signatory of the Ceres Climate Declaration in support of the U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan and is the only metals company ever accepted into the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Climate Savers Program.
About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminum rolled products and the world's largest recycler of aluminum. The company operates in 11 countries, has approximately 10,900 employees and reported revenue of approximately $10 billion for its 2014 fiscal year. Novelis supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The company is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited, part of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. For more information, visit novelis.com and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/NovelisInc and Twitter at twitter.com/Novelis.
About the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010 to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Working with business and education and providing economic analysis, the Foundation strives to demonstrate that the circular economy provides a coherent framework for systems level redesign and as such offers us an opportunity to harness innovation and creativity to enable a positive, regenerative economy. For more information, visit www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org.
SOURCE Novelis