Ten Years of Innovation and Sustainability at Novelis Nachterstedt
In 2011, Novelis made the decision to focus on recycling, this led to many investments focused on increasing recycling capacity and capabilities. The Nachterstedt Aluminium Recycling Center (NARC) celebrates its 10th anniversary.
A Transformative Investment
With a total investment of more than €300 million, NARC was constructed as a state-of-the-art facility capable of recycling up to 400,000 tonnes of aluminium annually. With its geographical central location within Europe, NARC provides high-recycled-content ingots to Novelis Europe’s rolling plants for further processing into low-carbon aluminium solutions.
“At NARC, we can cast aluminium ingots for car bodysides made from 86% scrap,” says Emilio Braghi, Executive Vice President Novelis Inc., and President Novelis Europe. “Aluminium ingots for beverage can bodies with a recycling content close to 100% showcase our way of decarbonizing aluminium for consumer goods and our strong ambition towards a fully circular economy.”
“We are proud to be able to meet the increasing market demand for high-recycled aluminium solutions, directly contributing to our customers’ carbon reduction and sustainability goals,” says Braghi.
Continued Recycling Leadership
Advanced sorting technology added at Nachterstedt Recycling plant in 2024 aims to further optimise the utilisation of post-consumer aluminium scrap for high-quality aluminium products. The new technology is expected to avoid the use of around 8,500 tonnes of primary aluminium per year resulting in a reduction of over 80,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually. The implementation of this sorting technology at NARC is projected to reach completion by the end of 2024.
Sven Schulze, Minister for Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt, praises Novelis’ commitment to environmental protection and sustainable production: “Novelis sets standards to strengthen Germany and Saxony-Anhalt as a location for sustainable aluminum solutions and impressively demonstrates how the circular economy and economic success can go together. As an important employer, Novelis makes a decisive contribution to the economic strength of the region and develops innovative solutions that receive international recognition. Saxony-Anhalt is proud of companies like Novelis, whose commitment contributes to the positive development of our state.”
