Advancing circularity in the aluminium industry with Novelis and TSR’s new strategic alliance

Novelis Inc., an American industrial aluminium company renowned for its flat-rolled product manufacturing and recycling expertise, has signed a strategic three-year agreement with TSR Recycling. This contract strengthens their long-standing partnership to supply approximately 75,000 tonnes of pre-sorted and processed end-of-life aluminium scrap for producing automotive-grade aluminium sheets. This collaboration plays a key role in driving the decarbonisation of the aluminium industry, not only in Europe but globally.

“They consist of very specific alloys with pretty tight specifications, made from 100% post-consumer scrap. We have very strict quality management in place. TSR136 in particular was designed as a sustainable P1020 substitute. We designed it with billet producers in mind, and it will allow them to decarbonize to a great extent,” said COO of TSR Group Denis Reuter.

"We are very proud to publicly demonstrate our strong partnership with TSR, and to sustainably drive the circularity of our industry through this long-term commitment. This is an important alliance to secure the supply of high-quality processed raw materials to meet our customers' sustainability targets, as well as advancing on our own 2030 journey toward 75% recycled content across our products,” said Emilio Braghi, Executive Vice President, Novelis Inc., and President, Novelis Europe.

The scrap will include two proprietary TSR products: TSR130 and TSR136. The agreement supports the growing market demand for aluminium with high recycled content. Access to end-of-life material is essential as Novelis continues collaborating with automotive customers to integrate more pre- and post-consumer scrap into new, high-recycled-containing aluminium alloys.

Importance of post-consumer scrap

Novelis and TSR, leaders in different segments of the aluminium recycling chain, are combining their expertise to accelerate the shift towards a circular economy significantly.  The use of post-consumer, or end-of-life, scrap is significant for two key reasons:

Firstly, it has a much lower carbon footprint compared to production scrap that hasn’t yet been utilised. Reuter explained that this was a crucial factor in TSR’s choice to exclusively use post-consumer material for these scrap grades, ensuring maximum decarbonisation through their use.

The second reason is availability. Wrought aluminium alloys are sensitive to contaminants, so producers tend to prefer production scrap—it’s pure and clean, having not yet been part of consumer goods. However, the supply of this scrap is limited, prompting the industry to increasingly consider more challenging sources, such as shredded end-of-life scrap.

End-of-life scrap, especially from vehicles, is often shredded, leading to material that contains non-aluminium impurities and aluminium alloys unsuitable for wrought alloy production, such as casting alloys. As a result, much of this shredded post-consumer scrap in Europe is used by secondary alloy producers for casting alloys, which are more tolerant of impurities, or it is exported.

"At TSR, we are excited to deepen our collaboration with Novelis based on our joint purpose to maximise circularity and decrease carbon emissions, conserve natural resources and reduce energy of the material industries. Ensuring that valuable resources are reused and repurposed benefits both our businesses and the planet. By working together, we can lead the transition toward a circular economy for the automotive sector and beyond. We are proud that, thanks to our innovative Europe-wide processing lines, we can contribute to this effort,” added Denis Reuter.