The construction milestone was marked with a traditional Norwegian ceremony called “kranselag,” where builders celebrate the installation of the last beam in a new building. This is marked with the carpenters putting up a wreath or small tree on the ridge of the house once the roof is installed.

“I would like to say thank you to the construction team and local stakeholders for helping us achieve this production milestone. We are grateful for the warm welcome we have received in Cassopolis and look forward to continuing work with the local community to bring stable jobs, career opportunities as well as investing in local education to bring forth the next generation of Hydro employees. Let’s continue the great progress and ensure a safe installation and start up of the plant,” says Ingrid Guddal, Head of Recycling in Hydro Aluminum Metal. 

Bringing jobs that are careers

The plant will provide 70 new, local jobs, supporting automotive innovation and be a key stepping stone in Hydro’s ambition to double recycling of post-consumer aluminum by 2025.

The eight key management positions for the project have already started their roles and are working to establish a solid foundation from day one of operations in Q4 2023.

In March, Hydro began recruitment for positions in production, process, administration and materials management. Applications are now open for production operators as well.

“We are looking for people who want to play an important part in Hydro’s exciting recycling growth agenda. With Hydro, you will not only get a job, but also a career opportunity where you can make a difference, by being part of a high performing team who puts safety first, embodies an improvement culture and lives the Hydro values of Care, Courage and Collaboration,” says Guddal.

State of the art recycling technology key for US automotive industry going electric

Hydro will invest an estimated USD 150 million to complete the project. Applications for the aluminum produced in Cassopolis will include critical automotive applications as well as other transportation uses, consumer and building system applications.

Aluminum plays a significant role in the light weighting of electric and hybrid vehicles, as cars need less electricity and fewer or smaller batteries to travel the same distances. With the automotive industry embarking on its biggest transformation since the assembly line, the state of Michigan is fundamental as consumers go electric. To meet this challenge, Hydro is bringing its next generation recycling technology, pioneered in Europe, to the plant in Cassopolis.

“We are seeing increasing interest in terms of low-carbon products and sustainability, where automotive companies look for more low-carbon materials to put into their vehicles and make their cars more sustainable. We are here to serve this growing demand by providing our industry leading proprietary alloys for more critical automotive applications from Cassopolis, Michigan,” says Guddal.

The Hydro Cassopolis recycling plant will produce 120,000 tonnes of recycled aluminium extrusion ingot per year and will be the first large scale producer of Hydro CIRCAL in North America. 

Unique to Hydro, Hydro CIRCAL aluminium extrusion ingot contains at least 75 percent post-consumer scrap, certified by third party auditors DNV GL, and has a market leading CO2 footprint of just 2.3 kg CO2e/kg aluminium or less.