The Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro began the construction of a new recycling plant in Torija, Spain, at the start of this week. The €180m project is expected to be operational by 2026. Once completed, the plant is to produce around 120,000 tonnes of extrusion billets per year, to be sold to customers in the automotive, construction, transport and renewable energy sectors.
At the Torija plant, Hydro will employ advanced sorting technologies and production processes, enabling it to recycle up to 70,000 tonnes of post-consumer scrap each year and to produce specialised alloys with the highest share of post-consumer recycled content in the market, the company said. The plant will also complement the company's existing recycling facility in Azuqueca de Henares, which is also located in Spain's Castilla-La Mancha region, and boost the company's total regional recycled aluminium capacity to over 200,000 tonnes annually, according to the announcement.
Hydro emphasises the facility's strategic importance in supplying sustainable aluminium to the European market. "The new plant will strengthen our recycling capacity in the European market, and save both energy and emissions," said Hanne Simensen, executive vice president of Hydro Aluminium Metal, at the groundbreaking ceremony. "Torija will be a flagship plant with full automotive capabilities, ideally located to serve Iberian and other European customers."
"Equally important, the plant will have ample access to locally-sourced scrap. This will provide significant value for our customers, create jobs and contribute to the circular economy. It’s good for Castilla-La Mancha, it’s good for Spain and it’s good for Europe," said Ms Simensen.
The construction of the new plant in Torija is in line with Hydro's long-term strategy, which includes "stepping up growth in recycling capacity". At the end of 2023, the Norwegian group set itself the goal of expanding its capacity for recycling post-consumer scrap (PCS) to between 850,000 and 1.2 million tonnes by 2030. Last year, Hydro made significant progress towards this goal. The commissioning of two new plants in Høyanger, Norway, and Székesfehérvár, Hungary, increased the group's own PCS recycling capacity from 560,000 tonnes in 2023 to 700,000 tonnes.
Hydro calls for policy measures curbing aluminium scrap exports
Hydro sees its investment in the Torija plant as a signal of its commitment to circularity in the aluminium value chain. "However, for more projects like this to thrive, we need clear policy frameworks that provide long-term certainty and give incentives to invest," said Ms Simensen.
The group is particularly concerned about the export of aluminium scrap from Europe and the "scrap loophole" in the EU's CO2 border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) that threaten to undermine aluminium recycling in Europe, according to Hydro. Like the European umbrella organisation European Aluminium, Ms Simensen is therefore in favour of trade policy measures that would reduce exports of aluminium scrap to countries outside the European Union. "I believe aligning policies and regulatory measures with the need for more circularity is crucial for boosting Europe’s industrial competitiveness," she said.
