ReMA board passes vesper specification

The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) board of directors approved the addition of the vesper specification to ReMA’s “ISRI Specifications” July 17.

As per the procedural rules for the addition, amendment or withdrawal of specifications set forth in ReMA’s “ISRI Specifications,” a public comment period will remain open for 30 days beginning July 23. Comments can be directed to ReMA Senior Economist Bret Biggers at bbiggers@recycledmaterials.org.  

The vesper specification reads: “Can be made up of aluminum sheet, extrusion and/or plate grades (wrought aluminum) segregated from zorba or twitch. The material must be dry and not contain more than 1 percent max free Mg [magnesium], 1 percent max free Zn [zinc] and 0.5 percent analytical Fe [ferrous]. Not containing more than 1 percent max nonmetallics. Material to be free of excessively oxidized material, air bag canisters or any sealed or pressurized items. Any variation to be sold by special arrangement between buyer and seller.”

The specification was introduced during the Spotlight on Aluminum session at ReMA 2025, the association’s annual convention and exposition in San Diego this May. In that session, panelists discussed the developing market for material prepared to the vesper specification, which ReMA's Nonferrous Division approved earlier during the week of the convention.

The grade was developed in partnership with Novelis Inc., an aluminum recycling and rolling company headquartered in Atlanta.

During the session, Gary Gallo, senior manager, end-of-life recycling, at Novelis, said that by 2030, implied wrought alloy content in twitch (shredded aluminum derived from wet or dry media separation that does not contain more than 1 percent free zinc, 1 percent free magnesium and 1 percent of analytical iron nor more than a total 2 percent nonmetallics) would rise significantly as more aluminum-intensive vehicles reach end of life.

“Mixed aluminum makes it challenging for consumers like Novelis, producers like Novelis, to use that in the most fully circularized and optimized way. And what it points to is the need for segregation," he said.

While twitch is recycled, it generally goes into secondary cast alloys.

“Once you take a hood from an F-150, and you shred it and you send it away to make, say, A380 [aluminum alloy] out of it, we can never get that scrap back,” Gallo continued. “The silicon content goes through the roof.”

More information about the rules governing the procedures for the addition, amendment or withdrawal of ReMA’s “ISRI Specifications” can be found on the ISRI Specifications website.