Norsk Hydro cites key role of recycling in annual update

In a letter written to shareholders of Norway-based Norsk Hydro in mid-March 2017, the company’s President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg emphasizes vehicle and packaging lightweighting and recycling as reasons aluminium is enjoying global advantages.

“I see Hydro in the business of making the world lighter – by lightweighting people’s daily lives and by easing the burden of climate change by saving greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy-efficiency," writes the CEO. “Due to its light weight, formability, durability and endless recyclability, [aluminium’s] growth is strikingly broad-based, spanning sectors like transportation, packaging, building and construction, as well as electrical applications,” he adds.

Brandtzæg also says aluminium “still has a significant potential for increased use. In 2017, we're expecting demand for aluminium to grow by a healthy 3% to 5%.”

The CEO continues, “Last year we invested in future-oriented projects that we expect to be successful seen from a strategic, financial and a climate point of view.” One of those, he writes, is the expanded UBC (used beverage container) recycling and smelting line in Neuss, Germany.

Brandtzæg says he is positioning Norsk Hydro to be closely involved in managing its own materials streams as it produces aluminium. “By being a 360-degree aluminium company, fully integrated along the entire aluminium value-chain, Hydro is in a unique position to control every step of production and be responsible – for the land, water and forests, for our employees and the communities we engage with, for the energy use and emissions in our processes and for bringing end products back into the loop to be used over again.”

He adds, “It’s an inherent strength of our Hydro Way. We have the patience to take the long-term perspective, and the eagerness to use every opportunity, every day, to make things happen.”

The full report, available in Norwegian and English, can be found here.