BMW announced today that it implemented a new system of separating aluminum sheet waste and recycling it at its Dingolfing plant. This new project aims at reducing the waste produced in the manufacturing process and will, according to BMW, enable savings of around 120,000 tons of CO2 per year solely through the recycling process. This is a great improvement in the search for less polluting processes.
The implementation of the new system in the Dingolfing press shop had a total cost of €6.5 million. With it, BMW inaugurated a new way of dealing with certain types of waste. The usage of secondary aluminum is estimated to drop up to 95% of the greenhouse gas emissions compared to using aluminum sourced from new, raw materials. In this process, BMW is working with the world’s leading recycling specialist, Novelis.
During the manufacturing process, the press shop creates tons of waste sheet metal that, without proper recycling, would just end up not being used. With the new system in place, the remaining bits of sheet metals from the 12 production presses are separated and distributed on conveyor belts.
They are then pressed into cubes which are collected without being mixed with other materials. Novelis then melts the aluminum residues from the plant and reshapes them, turning the residue into new sheets of aluminum and so on.
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“With the introduction of this system, we are strengthening our position as a global aluminum competence center in the company. At the same time, we take responsibility for the environment and the efficient use of raw materials in the supply chain.” said Christoph Schröder, head of the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing about the new recycling process.
The same system will be implemented in all of the 31 plants BMW has around the world and the Landshut location will be the first to follow after Dingolfing.
