The UAE on Wednesday launched its largest aluminium recycling plant - three months after operations were halted by Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Al Taweelah recycling plant, established by Emirates Global Aluminium, began producing recycled aluminium in February, but final commissioning work was put on hold following the strike on Abu Dhabi's Khalifa Economic Zone on March 28.
EGA confirmed at the time that Al Taweelah site sustained "significant damage" with a number of its employees injured.
Work on the recycling plant at the complex resumed in April, with recycled cast metal production getting back under way in early May.
The build-up to full production is expected to take up to six months, in line with the original timeline, depending on scrap availability.
Dr Amna Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, attended the inauguration of the plant on Wednesday.
She heralded its launch as a significant step in a journey to transform the nation into a "global hub for green development".
She said the plant will play a crucial role in boosting energy efficiency, driving down emissions and reducing waste.
“Recycling is the cornerstone of the UAE’s Circular Economy Policy which aims to transform the nation into a global hub for green development by shifting from linear to circular production and consumption, enhancing resource efficiency, and minimising waste," the minister said.
"Aluminium represents one of our greatest opportunities to drive this transition from linear to circular model of production.
"Recycling aluminium waste requires up to 95 per cent less energy compared to producing new primary aluminium from raw ore, saving significant energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Emirates Global Aluminium has been a pioneer of our nation’s industry for decades, and today, they are leading the charge as our national champion in aluminium recycling."
The opening of the plant is a major boost for EGA, among the largest UAE non-oil industrial conglomerates.
It declared force majeure for certain products in April after damage to Al Taweelah plant.
Force majeure clauses allow suppliers to suspend contractual obligations without penalty when events beyond their control prevent delivery.
EGA said at the time that the damage to the Abu Dhabi production centres will take up to a year to repair.
Dr Al Dahak was joined at the opening event by Dr Shaikha Al Dhaheri, secretary general of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, EGA chairman Homaid Al Shimmari and vice chairman Saeed Al Tayer, and members of its board and senior management team.
“The inauguration of Al Taweelah recycling plant is a major milestone in EGA’s development of a global aluminium recycling business," said its chief executive Abdulnasser bin Kalban.
"This new plant turns aluminium waste generated in the UAE and elsewhere into new aluminium that makes modern life possible around the world.
"With this project, we have added a new industrial activity to EGA’s operations in the UAE, in line with Make it in the Emirates and the UAE’s Operation 300bn industrial growth strategy.”
Mammoth construction drive
The construction of Al Taweelah recycling plant - which begun in November, 2023 - was completed following four million work hours.
The project requiring more than 26,300 cubic metres of concrete, more than the volume of 10 Olympic-size swimming pools, as well as over 4,600 tonnes of structural steel, almost two-thirds of the iron weight of the Eiffel Tower.
The plant has a production capacity of 185,000 tonnes per year. It processes post-consumer aluminium scrap, and some pre-consumer aluminium scrap, into low-carbon, high-quality "premium aluminium" billets and T-bars, marketed by EGA under the product name RevivAL.
EGA also blends recycled metal with primary aluminium produced using solar power, marketed as CelestiAL-R, and with nuclear power, sold as MinimAL-R.
Most aluminium scrap generated in the UAE has historically been exported for processing outside the country and was therefore lost to the national economy.
