In addition, aluminum is a valuable metal even as post-consumer scrap. Recent studies have shown that up to 95 percent of the aluminum content of vehicles and 93 percent of the buildings, mainly for the curtain wall, can be recycled. This also lead to business opportunities in the future, as buildings will become “urban mines” for the next generations, enabling a full recycling loop and reducing energy use in production by 95 percent compared to primary aluminum production.

2012 Recycled Content Declaration

Hydro's Extrusion North America unit sources billets for our extrusion facilities and external customers from our own network of three remelt casthouses. These casthouses, located in St. Augustine, FL, Monett, MO, and Phoenix, AZ, utilize state-of-the-art and proprietary technology to produce primary-quality extrusion billet with high recycled content.

In 2011, these facilities used in their production close to 275 million pounds of recycled aluminum — 20 percent more than in 2010 and 32 percent more than in 2009. Nearly 20 percent of last year’s amount was post-consumer material, with the remainder coming from pre-consumer scrap from our casthouses and extrusion plants, our customers, and other extruders.

The scrap content of 6000-series alloy billet we produced in 2011 was around 70 percent.

Through technology and practical improvements, Hydro’s Extrusion North America unit is committed to increasing its share of the goal that Hydro has set for its global operation: To recycle 1 million tonnes of contaminated and post-consumer scrap annually by the year 2020.