The German Aluminium Alliance is an initiative founded by the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, together with the social partners IG Metall, IG BCE and the Aluminium Germany Association. Its aim is to make the aluminium industry in Germany competitive, climate-neutral and circular.
NRW Minister for Economic Affairs Mona Neubaur emphasised the need for ambitious expansion of the circular economy in her keynote speech:
North Rhine-Westphalia is the centre of the German aluminium industry and forms the backbone of important industrial value chains. Our goal is to develop this location in a future-proof and climate-neutral manner. This requires an aluminium industry that combines economic strength with ecological responsibility. The consistent expansion of the circular economy in the aluminium sector is therefore a key lever that we are tackling together in a joint effort between the federal states, industry and trade unions.
Overall, the aluminium industry makes a decisive contribution to value creation, employment and the climate-neutral transformation in numerous federal states. The German Aluminium Alliance therefore made the following appeals to politicians and called for appropriate political framework conditions:
Aluminium scrap is a critical raw material and should be treated as such.
Aluminium recycling already works at a very high level today. Aluminium beverage cans, for example, already achieve a recycling rate of over 99 per cent in Germany. This is made possible by the metallurgical properties of the material, coupled with the aluminium industry's continuous investment in state-of-the-art processing, sorting and furnace technologies. Philipp Schlüter (TRIMET Aluminium SE) emphasised: ‘It is crucial that sufficient aluminium scrap is available to operate our recycling plants. Our industry is coming under increasing pressure in the global competition for scrap. Politicians and industry must now work together to ensure that valuable aluminium scrap remains in the European cycle.’
Francesco Grioli, member of the IGBCE executive board, insists: ‘Technological innovations should be specifically promoted as the key to the circular economy.’ Because: "The aluminium industry is a key area for industrial transformation. A strong circular economy secures jobs, protects the climate and strengthens competitiveness," emphasises Volker Consoir, department head on the IG Metall executive board. If the extraction of raw materials from secondary materials is to be promoted, this must be done pragmatically – currently, projects are either not yet ready for funding or are already being implemented; in such cases, it is no longer possible to wait for bureaucratic processes (Volker Backs, Speira GmbH).
Investment in innovative technologies and processes is therefore essential for a sustainable aluminium industry. This includes, in particular, the further development of burner and furnace technologies, the possible use of green hydrogen and electrification technologies. Politics, industry and science are equally called upon to jointly drive these developments forward, supported by targeted funding programmes.
A consistent ‘design for recycling’ must be established along the entire value chain.
A sustainable circular economy starts with product design. In future, greater attention should be paid to ease of dismantling and recycling. This requires appropriate incentives, standards and support measures, in particular to avoid complex composite materials that make recycling difficult. The aluminium recycling industry offers significant economic and environmental opportunities. In addition to reducing the carbon footprint, targeted measures can conserve resources and reduce dependencies.
The discussion made it clear that the path to a sustainable circular economy requires close cooperation between industry, politics and civil society, as well as greater awareness of the strategic role of aluminium for a climate-neutral future.
Source: www.aluminiumdeutschland.de
