Novelis' Greensboro, Georgia, plant site of fire

Fire broke out at Novelis’ facility in Greensboro, Georgia, following an explosion the afternoon of Sunday, March 1.

“We got a call shortly after 5 p.m. of an explosion at Novelis, which is an aluminum recycling facility,” Greene County Fire Public Safety, Emergency Management/Homeland Security Director Joe Bashore told The Union-Recorder. “This explosion was pretty significant. I live 5 miles from here and heard it. It kind of rattled my house, as well.”

Atlanta-based Novelis provided Recycling Today with the following statement concerning the events in Greensboro:

“In the late afternoon of Sunday, March 1, an explosion occurred in a piece of equipment at Novelis’ recycling plant in Greensboro, Georgia, leading to a fire in the equipment. We are thankful there were no injuries to employees or first responders.

“The plant is shut down at this time, as we clean the impacted areas.

“As we have recycling and casting capacity at our Berea, Guthrie and Logan facilities, which are all in Kentucky, as well as in our Oswego, New York plant, and have access to third-party casting centers, we do not expect this to have a significant impact on customers.”

According to the Novelis website, the Greensboro facility was the first stand-alone used beverage can, or UBC, recycling facility in the company and now is responsible for pioneering many of Novelis’ recycling technologies.

In late 2025, Novelis experienced two major fires at its Oswego plant’s hot mill that have affected recovered aluminum demand as that plant was the biggest producer of auto body sheet and a large producer of can sheet. Some of the company's rolling mills have shifted their manufacturing lines away from other end markets, including beverage cans, to support Ford and other automotive companies.