US packaging company Ball Corporation says the first consumer goods packaging made with ELYSIS aluminium marks a “step forward in sustainable packaging and industrial collaboration”.
Ball and UK consumer goods manufacturer Unilever are using aluminium produced using Alcoa Corporation’s ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology in aerosol cans.
Alcoa is working on an industrial-scale deployment of ELYSIS in Quebec, Canada, under a joint venture with Rio Tinto. The venture is said to have support from Apple and the governments of Canada and Quebec. Alcoa says the proprietary ELYSIS process eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from smelting by using inert anode technology that produces oxygen instead of CO2.
Ball said aerosol cans made with 50% ELYSIS aluminium and 50% post-consumer recycled content represented “more than a technical achievement”.
“This project combines higher recycled content and low-carbon primary aluminium – both key to decarbonise aluminium packaging and the aluminium sector at large,” said the company’s chief sustainability officer, Ramon Arratia.
“This is both a packaging innovation and critical supply chain collaboration at work.”
Alcoa executive vice president and chief commercial officer Renato Bacchi said: “Through this collaboration with Ball and Unilever we’re helping bring low-carbon aluminium into everyday products and demonstrating how innovation at the material level can deliver tangible sustainability benefits.”
