Aluminium innovation Made in Germany

Hanover, January 20, 2026 – EGA Leichtmetall is expanding its production capacity with a new high‑tech recycling plant in Lower Saxony. The facility brings together state‑of‑the‑art scrap sorting, energy‑efficient furnace technologies and an almost fully closed‑loop salt slag breakdown process at a single site. It will be among the first aluminium recycling plants worldwide capable of operating with near‑zero waste. The new plant will increase EGA Leichtmetall’s sorting capacity by 110,000 tonnes per year and increase melt and casting capacity to 150,000 tonnes annually. The company is investing around €145 million.

“With the new plant in the GreenTech Park Steyerberg, we are significantly expanding our recycling capabilities, strengthening our industrial performance and offering a broader range of high‑grade, low‑emission aluminium products with consistent quality – aligned with Emirates Global Aluminium’s (EGA) global sustainability strategy,” says Thomas Witte, CEO of EGA Leichtmetall.

For the first time, EGA Leichtmetall will be able to sort and metallurgically process end‑of‑life, post‑consumer scrap to a standard previously only achievable with clean, pre‑sorted pre‑consumer scrap. This will enhance the company’s security of supply, reduce procurement costs and unlock additional market segments where high‑quality, resource‑efficient alloys are seeing rising demand.

When production starts in 2028, the new EGA Leichtmetall site is expected to create around 200 direct jobs, with numerous additional opportunities across the regional value chain.

Circularity – the focus of the new plant

The core element of the new facility is its integrated salt slag breakdown process. In aluminium recycling, salt is used to bind impurities from the scrap during the melting process. In conventional systems, this leaves behind salt‑bearing slag, which is classified as hazardous waste and must be disposed of at significant effort and cost. At the new EGA Leichtmetall plant, however, the salt used in the process is fully recovered and continuously reused. Additionally, valuable ceramic aluminium oxide is recovered and can be reused as a raw material in various industries. This closed-loop approach enables near-zero-waste production, reduces emissions and maintains the circulation of valuable materials within the industrial cycle.

The plant will also feature an advanced sorting system that separates scrap precisely by alloy, purity and contamination profile. It will deploy X‑ray transmission (XRT) technologies alongside laser line sensors and AI. As a result, the company will, for the first time, be able to process post‑consumer scrap from Lower Saxony and across Europe directly on site, further shortening local supply chains.

With this, EGA Leichtmetall is establishing a key prerequisite to reliably meet growing demand for CO₂‑reduced, high‑quality aluminium products in aerospace, defence, the automotive industry and specialist mechanical engineering. Customers will benefit from a broader product portfolio, consistent security of supply and a significantly lower CO₂ footprint for delivered materials.