Novelis has announced plans to invest $50 million (£36.8m) to build a recycling centre at its Ulsan Aluminium joint venture in South Korea.

The Ulsan Recycling Centre will have an annual casting capacity of 100 kilotonnes of low carbon sheet ingot and is expected to help reduce Novelis’ carbon emissions by more than 420,000 tons every year.

Construction is scheduled to start in October this year, with commissioning expected in early 2024.

The Ulsan Aluminium joint venture was established in 2017 to produce aluminium rolled products, supplying Kobe Steel with cold-rolled aluminium.

The latest announcement follows Novelis’ plans to build a new US recycling centre in Guthrie, Kentucky and its pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

According to the company, using recycled aluminium as input material requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminium, helping avoid 95% of the carbon emissions associated with production.

Sachin Satpute, Executive Vice President, Novelis, and President, Novelis Asia said: “The establishment of the Ulsan Aluminium Recycling Centre is an important investment to help us achieve our ambition of becoming the world’s leading provider of sustainable, low carbon aluminium solutions.

“By increasing the use of recycled content, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint as well as that of our customers and the broader industry and accelerating aluminium’s transition to a fully circular economy.”