Hydro earns global recognition for aluminium recycling innovation
At the Dezeen Awards in London, Hydro wins the “Material innovation of the year” and “Sustainability project of the year” categories at the annual design and architecture awards. The awards were given to Hydro CIRCAL 100R, based on Hydro’s recycling projects where international designers created objects made with 100 percent post-consumer aluminium.
This is another huge recognition from the design and architecture industry that recycled aluminium can be part of the solution for the future,” says Asle Forsbak, Marketing and Communication Director in Hydro Extrusions and project lead for the 100R and R100 projects.
The 100R and R100 projects are the first two chapters of Hydro’s Milan series, with highly successful exhibitions at Milan Design Week in 2024 and 2025. By showing recycled aluminium in a new way, the material becomes an easily digestible demonstration of otherwise abstract concepts like “urban mining,” “circular economy,” and even the overall term “sustainability.”
In each of the two chapters, a key element in the story has been the collaboration with international product designers who have designed unique objects with aluminium extrusions. With an open design brief from Hydro, the designers could express their own particular philosophy, and this resulted in 12 different interior design objects.
Real progress towards a circular future
Designer and Art Director Lars Beller Fjetland orchestrated the projects, developed the strategy together with Hydro, selected the designers, and carried out simultaneous product developments together with Hydro’s engineers.
The Dezeen Awards jury that selected Hydro CIRCAL 100R as the winning candidate emphasizes the potential of the recycled aluminium. As the sustainability master jury comments: “Its impact is sure to be felt far beyond the world of design and architecture, offering a rare glimpse of not just hope, but real progress. In achieving the hitherto impossible task of making aluminium with 100 percent recycled content, Hydro is heralding a truly circular future with an infinite material loop. Through its industrial scale manufacturing facilities, the company is already making massive leaps in turning this dream into a reality.”
Hydro CIRCAL 100R has a carbon footprint of below 0.5 kilo CO2e per kilo aluminium, which is 97 percent lower than the world average. The near-zero carbon footprint is achieved by recycling 100 percent post-consumer aluminium scrap, which means the starting point for creating the material comes with a carbon footprint of zero. The remaining carbon footprint comes from the processing, melting and casting of the post-consumer scrap.
Making waves in design and architecture
In April, Hydro was awarded best Sustainable Achievement at the Elle Decoration International Design Awards for the 100R project, which marked the official launch of Hydro CIRCAL 100R recycled aluminium in 2024.
About the 100R and R100 projects
More than 10 million tonnes of furniture are thrown away in Europe every year and the demand for low-carbon, recycled products is growing. Through the two projects in 2024 and 2025, Hydro challenged 12 world renowned designers to create design objects made from Hydro CIRCAL 100R, the world’s first aluminium made entirely from recycled post-consumer scrap on an industrial scale.
The twelve designers in the projects are Inga Sempé, Max Lamb, Shane Schneck, John Tree, Rachel Griffin, Philippe Malouin, Andreas Engesvik, Daniel Rybakken, Cecilie Manz, Keiji Takeuchi, Sabine Marcelis, and Stefan Diez.
