“Revolutionizing” Australian aluminum industry: Jamestrong partners with UNSW
28 Jul 2023 --- Australian metal can manufacturer Jamestrong and the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (Smart) Centre are coming together for a “Green Aluminium” partnership.
The collaboration aims to commercialize the Smart Centre’s advanced Microfactorie recycling technology into Jamestrong’s can manufacturing process at its Taree, New South Wales plant.
Reportedly, the partnership will establish Jamestrong as one of the world’s first aluminum aerosol can producers to make aerosol cans from recycled content and currently unrecycled mixed materials waste, including plastics.
“Our Green Aluminium Microfactorie technology can recover aluminum from a range of mixed waste feedstocks, including waste packaging,” explains Professor Veena Sahajwalla, director of the UNSW’s Smart Centre.
“The innovative recovery of the recycled aluminum will be incorporated directly into the manufacturing process producing slugs, with varying degrees of recycled content available depending on production requirements.”
“Every atom of aluminum that exists in our society, whether in multi-layered form or any other format, can be regenerated and brought back to life over and over again, and that’s what we’re doing with Jamestrong right here in Taree.”
The initial phase of creating a new AUS$8 million (US$5.3 million) aluminum casting line is expected to be completed by about the middle of 2024.
Professor Veena Sahajwalla with Alex Commins at the Jamestrong aluminum plant.Aluminum boost
Funded by Jamestrong and UNSW under the Australian Government-sponsored Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy program, the Green Aluminium partnership is expected to “revolutionize aluminum manufacturing and recycling in Australia.”
Jamestrong’s CEO Alex Commins says the Green Aluminium Microfactorie partnership would boost local employment at the plant and pave the way for continued progress in sustainable packaging globally.
“With UNSW Smart Centre, we are advancing our aluminum casting line capabilities in the existing footprint of our plant in Taree, which will re-shore the manufacturing process of aluminum slugs that we currently import from Thailand.”
“The UNSW Smart Centre partnership will mean recycled aluminum will be introduced into Jamestrong’s aerosol can production process, and the slugs produced on the new casting line will be used in the plant’s extrusion process to manufacture more than 100 million aerosol cans per year,” Commins continues.
Sahajwalla adds that the partnership with Jamestrong has the potential to transform the use and reuse of aluminum by aligning recycling and manufacturing of mixed waste content that is currently not subject to traditional recycling processes.
Edited by Radhika Sikaria
