Aluminium recycling can unlock major economic opportunities in Oman
According to Marlen Bertram, Director of Scenarios and Forecast at the International Aluminium Institute, onethird of global aluminium production is the result recycling aluminium scraps.
In her keynote address, she shared that the Middle East has experienced notable growth in primary aluminium production over the last ten years, however scrap recycling is still at its infancy. This can be due to the export of scrap materials, as well as the composition of scrap aluminium in the region, which is mostly post-consumer scrap that has reached the end of its life cycle and is often mixed with other alloy elements. Consequently, investment is required in better sorting technologies, she noted.
Similarly, Karima al Raisi, acting Senior Manager of Material Recovery at Oman Environment Services Holding (be’ah), shared that the restriction of aluminium export is one of the key enablers of enhancing the local aluminium recycling industry.
During her presentation, she explained that the ban of exporting scrap aluminium is necessary to achieve enough feedstock at local facilities. This in turn would reduce reliance on the import of scrap aluminium.
She added that other enablers of the industry will include the creation of a digitised online platform for the buying, selling and transporting of aluminium scrap and digital monitoring.
According to the International Aluminium Institute, the GCC currently produces 11 tonnes of green house emissions for every tonne of aluminium production. The adoption of aluminium recycling can drop this figure to 0.6 tonnes of CO2E, representing a 95-per cent reduction.