What is recycled aluminium?
A matter of definition
Recycled content
ISO definition
As great as aluminium recycling is, the definition of what counts as recycled content in aluminium products is open to interpretation. Recycled content as defined by ISO 14021:
- “The proportion, by mass, of recycled material in a product or packaging. Only pre-consumer and post-consumer materials shall be considered as recycled content, consistent with the following usage of the terms:
Pre-consumer material:
- Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excluded is reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it.
Post-consumer material:
- Material generated by households or by commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities in their role as end users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of material from the distribution chain. For the purposes of the calculation, the term 'product' refers to the final product as delivered to the construction site and incorporated in the works.“
Not as clear as it seems
A hotbed for greenwashing
The challenge lies in the definition of pre-consumer material: “Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excluded is reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it.”
What exactly is “the same process”? Where is the point of substitution? This leaves a lot of room for interpretation and opportunities for greenwashing. Different interpretations include the following:
- Casthouse: The composition is fixed, so every process after casting contributes to recycled content. This approach can make your numbers green but is not very honest.
- Production of intended product: Internal scrap from other product streams (e.g., foil production scrap in can sheet products) contributes to recycled content. Blurry lines of separation for better numbers.
This is how we do it
Clearly defined and transparent
Don’t fake it – make it: Instead of focusing only on the best numbers, Speira wants to stand for real commitment and genuine sustainability motives. That’s why our approach to the rather vague definition of recycled content is sharp, and we encourage all producers and supply chain partners to measure and report recycled content the same way:
- Only external scrap is recycled content and directly contributes to recycled content.
- Internal scrap is composed of recycled content and primary metal. (See below)
We fully agree that other definitions are also applicable. As we are committed to transparency, we are willing to share information about our metal input mix and its composition.
Internal scrap
Not recycled content per default, but containing recycled content
- For us, internal scrap does not contribute to recycled content.
- Speira‘s input mix of recycled content = Speira‘s output mix of recycled metal content.
- We do not „generate“ additional recycled content within Speira.
- Internal scrap, however, is a mix of recycled aluminium and primary metal, depending on the plant's metal input mix.
- Note that calculating internal scrap as recycled content would result in mandatory negative recycled content for prime-based products, which is difficult to calculate and leads to highly artificial figures.
The Speira formula
Our recycled content definition „cradle-to-gate“
Our view on environmental benefits
Speira’s approach for contributing to a circular economy
Summing up: How does Speira allocate the benefits of aluminium recycling to the carbon footprint of an aluminium product, e.g., a sheet or a foil? We follow the approach to track the physical reality of emissions as close as possible. Scrap from external sources outside Speira (including our value chain with our joint venture operations) is accounted for the emissions from the recycling process without accounting for emissions that occurred somewhere in the history of this metal. This typically results in emission levels of 0.5 kg CO2e per kg of recycled aluminium.
Internal scrap from our own processes (including our joint venture operations) carries the carbon footprint of the metal input into the process that generated this scrap. In addition, there are the emission from remelting and rerolling, resulting in total emissions slightly above the level of the original input into the plant. Internal scrap has never been a product, or semi-finished product, and for resource and energy efficiency reasons, all measures to reduce internal scrap help to save emissions.
We follow the rules of ISO 14040-44 and ISO 14064. By application of these rules, we differentiate between internal scrap that has been kept in our value chain for internal reprocessing and externally sourced scrap that has previously left our plants and that, with the recycling, starts its second (or third or fourth) life cycle without the historical footprint attached to it.
A call for consistency
For the benefit of partners, customers, and our planet
Ultimately, our primary goal is the reduction of carbon emissions. The methods we adopt, grounded in established standards, to quantify and convey the advantages of aluminium recycling are essential tools in our collective mission to lower carbon footprints.
It's imperative that we unite to establish a widely accepted, standardized approach for assessing the recycled content in aluminium products. This collaborative effort in assessing, reporting, and promoting the substantial benefits of aluminium recycling is vital. It is only by working together that our collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be fully recognised and appreciated.
As an industry, we're moving in the right direction. Now let‘s make it count – the right way.
Speira learn
Recycling
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