TL;DR:
- In a move to meet carbon reduction goals, the EU started to recycle aluminium.
- Chinese buyers now snapping up aluminium scrap, smelting it an sell it back to Europe as new metal
- Novelis, the industry’s largest recycler, calls on the EU to curb exports of metal scrap to China and the US
The EU’s recycling system is being weaponised against the bloc by Chinese buyers snapping up aluminium scrap, smelting it and exporting it back to Europe as newly produced metal, according to the industry’s largest recycler.
Emilio Braghi, executive vice-president of Novelis, [said] the sector risked what he described as terminal decline unless Brussels acted on its pledge to curb the export of scrap to Asia and the US.
“We have lost primary production. Now we are at risk of losing aluminium scrap,” he said, noting that Europe would be unable to meet its own environmental goals if this was the case.
EU producers pay energy prices up to four times those of their competitors, so have shifted to remelting scrap which is more energy efficient.
The recycling drive is part of EU efforts to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and to retain more critical materials in the bloc to avoid dependence on Chinese imports.
Unlike other parts of the world, Europe is unique in consumer behaviour and its willingness to pay more for recycled products out of a concern for the environment and climate change, Braghi said.
“We see that pull from consumers, whether they are buying a new car or they are buying an aluminium can, based on high recycled content. We don’t see that elsewhere.”
…
I really hope Im misreading something here. Are they complaining that others recycle what theyre “supposed to” so they cant do the recycling themselves? Thats like complaining someone washed your dishes because now you have to do some other chores that you dont like as much.
The complaint seems to be that we dont do it ourselves which is our fault. The chinese companies are doing exactly what theybare supposed to and recycling the material back into the industry.
The complaint is that it’s being sold as new material but at cheaper prices, which puts local production at full disadvantage and disincentives local production entirely, which would then cause the EU to depend on foreign sources for aluminium as local production would begin to shut down and scrap would begin to dry up.
there is really no difference between recycled aluminum and virgin aluminum.
Are they complaining that others recycle what theyre “supposed to” so they cant do the recycling themselves?
The recycling industry is a cartel. Its basically owned by the mafia.
The TL;DR is misleading. The EU has not “started to recycle aluminum”. It had already done so for a long long time. I feel like the TL;DR also singles out China, seeing as it fails to mention that US companies are also increasingly importing scrap.
if you feel like the TLDR singles out China, its because the OP randomname along with sepia and hotznplotzn (likely all the same guy) just spam posts everything “China bad”.
Literally half my lemmy feed sometimes is them, they have like over 1000 posts on every account with 95% being “China bad”.
I mean everyones entitled to their opinion, but in a recent thread about users should post more there were people being like “I am doing my part” who considered themselfs frequent posters with like 30 posts…
US companies are also increasingly importing scrap
because some idiot put a tariff on Canadian aluminum even though the US cannot possibly make enough aluminum for their demand.
The report is a compendium of unsourced claims made by an executive of an US aluminium company Novelis. There is an older piece by FT with more serious sources. It has no mention of China. However, it says:
Washington has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium, but not on scrap. As a result, US smelters have increased purchases of European scrap to produce fresh metal and avoid tariffs.
That’s all very interesting, so if the your linked article is older, does that mean Chinese companies are copying US ones on this? Or maybe it’s not as simple as that. Either way, to me it sounds like the Indian-owned US subsidiary Novelis has created facilities in Europe and did not account for aluminum scrap getting bought up by other companies.
does that mean Chinese companies are copying US ones on this?
Trump administration imposed tariffs on EU steel in March 2025. Did China also impose tariffs on EU steel in the meantime? Or, why should chinese companies copy the american companies?
Trump administration imposed tariffs on EU steel in March 2025
I don’t know how old your linked article is, as it’s behind a paywall, but according to different sources aluminum US tariffs on aluminum were already implemented or increased in June 2018.
Did China also impose tariffs on EU steel in the meantime? Or, why should chinese companies copy the american companies?
The EU Packaging Waste Regulation laws which demand higher recycling rates were enacted in 2025. So considering the 2018s tariffs, US companies had reasons to import aluminum scrap for 7 more years. The increases in available scrap and on tariffs in 2025 surely strengthened this though.
I don’t know how old your linked article is, as it’s behind a paywall, but according to different sources aluminum US tariffs on aluminum were already implemented or increased in June 2018.
Trump introduced 25% tarif in March 2025 which was doubled to 50% in June 2025. Another source
That doesn’t negate the fact that he already introduced tariffs on aluminum in 2018.
The vast majority of the material in this scenario can be attributed to China. This is also what the original article’s headline and content suggests.
Who cares who’s doing the recycling, as long as it’s not ending up in a landfill somewhere?
The international political tensions and experience from dependence on Russian gas should make it obvious why it’s a good idea to remain aware and vigilant on domestic production and independence and dependency on foreign actors. Both US and China are named in the excerpt, and both have been threatening the invasion of other countries. Being dependent on them for products and resources would make it harder to react in opposing ways.
Shipping scrap to China to melt it and then ship it back seems like a very long distance to traverse as well. Ship do mass, offsetting their dirty environmental impact, but local handling would be preferable.
I agree it’s not optimal, but I fail to see how it’s a ‘backfire’. Would it be preferable to be dumping it all in landfills?
Reading into it more. They have the local capacity to process it but the scrap is being sold on the export market because the Chinese can under bid them. If they dont have material to meet the local capacity the plants could shutdown, destroying or “backfiring” on their existing capabilities.
In this case it does sound like the best course of action is to at least have enough scrap to meet local capacity before they export.
If they’re shipping it to China and back then it diminishes the environmental benefits, but I don’t know the actual logistics.
It does sound like it could be more efficient, but that applies to a lot of things in our production and logistic chains.
But but but! They don’t deserve to make money from that, it would be better if we got to do the money making! So please, subsidise our energy consumption like hell so that we may compete with them on fair terms.
Also, don’t try to lower our electricity costs naturally by building more renewables, our shareholders still have stocks in coal so we can’t switch to electric furnaces.
It’s good that they recycle but they do it for the wrong reasons 😭
It’s another point that shows that the Chinese government can’t be trusted, and that China has absolutely no interest in saving the climate.
I don’t know what you mean about China’s actions here being untrustworthy. The problem that I see is that our governments are allowing foreigners to dominate the production of raw materials which puts us at a disadvantage.
The only problem I can see is if one interprets “snapping up aluminium scrap, smelting it and exporting it back to Europe as newly produced metal,” to mean that they’re mislabeling it as primary aluminum, but I don’t get the impression that that’s the author’s meaning. They later say, “Europe is unique in consumer behaviour and its willingness to pay more for recycled products,” which I take to mean that we’re very willing to buy this recycled metal from China, made from our own scrap.
I take to mean that we’re very willing to buy this recycled metal from China, made from our own scrap.
This is an obvious misinterpretation, and the article is quite clear about that.
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.
Aluminium is one is the easiest to recycle materials. I don’t see the problem with buying it recycled. It is pretty much as good as new.
The problem is that we’re losing the ability to produce raw materials because we allow foreign powers to produce them for us. We have to balance cooperation with a certain degree of independence in order to maintain a position in global politics. Ideally our governments will create plans to encourage domestic aluminum recycling.
It is pretty much as good as new.
It is not. The impurities destroy strength that is needed for some applications. For cans it is not a problem.
It’s also no problem for extrusions which is one of the main uses of aluminium. Haven’t heard about any impurities creating issues.
Are “energy prices up to four times” lower really enough to offset the cost of shipping it around the world?
Maritime shipping can be kinda cheap because of how much fits on those really big container ships. It seems untrue with how big they are and how much fuel they burn and how much crew there is… But it’s true.
In terms of energy used per ton moved, big container ships are the most efficient modern means of transportation.
Also, people buy heaps of stuff from China, the ships are likely returning empty. Transporting scrap metal adds value to the return trip.
Aluminium costs $3000 per ton, shipping that ton to or from China costs $30.
Plus labour costs.
