Alcoa Establishes Goal On Recycled Aluminum Usage, Urges Sustainable Development

Alcoa Executive Vice President G. John Pizzey urged The Aluminum Association to adopt an ambitious approach to sustainable development, positioning the organization and its members as leaders and innovators. Pizzey’s comments were part of a presentation given at the trade organization's 69th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. Monday. Pizzey also announced that Alcoa has established a new corporate recycling usage goal: By 2020, 50 percent of Alcoa products, except raw ingot that is sold to others directly, will be made from recycled aluminum.

"The industry is global. The problems are global, and the economic solutions are global. So, too, must be the applications of sustainable development principles," Pizzey said. "Sustainable development provides a framework that allows us to address how we do business, how we interact with our plant communities and other stakeholders, and how we look at public policy issues. It is in this context that Alcoa has made a significant commitment to address climate change. This is a core issue for Alcoa, and for the global aluminum industry," he noted.

Pizzey recommended that the aluminum industry continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by focusing on efficiency. "At Alcoa, we have a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2010 from a base year of 1990. I'm pleased to tell you that we have already reached 90 percent of our goal."

He also suggested that greenhouse gas emission reduction measures start at the shop floor and that assessment tools, such as Life Cycle Analysis, be applied to measure the long-term value of aluminum products and the renewable nature of aluminum and to communicate those characteristics to stakeholders.

"Sustainability requires environmental excellence, economic success and social responsibility," Pizzey told the attendees. "At Alcoa, we have developed a strategic framework that allows each of our businesses worldwide to develop its own goals and action plans within that framework." These goals will serve as milestones along the way to Alcoa's ultimate vision of a company where:

• All wastes have been eliminated; 
• Products are designed for the environment; 
• The environment is fully integrated into manufacturing; 
• The workplace is free of injuries, spills and leaks; and 
• Alcoa is recognized as a leader and partner in every community where it has operations. 

In announcing Alcoa’s goal to incorporate recycled material into 50 percent of its products, Pizzey said, "In a little over a century of use, aluminum has a proven record of renewable use; about two-thirds of aluminum ever produced -- 440 million tons of a total 680 million tons manufactured since 1886 -- is still in use. Setting this goal will allow us to build on that record of a truly sustainable metal."

Pizzey said aluminum producers must define their commitment to sustainability with visible and disseminated results. "Unless we are perceived to be a sustainable enterprise, new smelters will not be permitted, new mines will not be allowed, new residue ponds will not be approved and electric power projects for our industry will not be built."

To read Pizzy’s speech, visit www.alcoa.com/global/en/environment/further_reading.asp. For more information on the Pittsburgh-based company’s environmental goals, visit www.alcoa.com/global/en/environment/goals.asp.