Diageo has financed the creation of British Aluminum Consortium for Advanced Alloys (British Consortium for Advanced Aluminum Alloys, BACALL), a grouping of industry experts that will create a system of circular economy for aluminum in UK. The consortium will build a mill for rolling hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum foil in the UK to produce more than 400 million cans of Guinness and Gordon's ready-to-drink beverages.
To recycle and manufacture the cans, the UK currently relies on an unsustainable, energy-intensive supply chain that relies on the export and import of aluminum.
The consortium will build an advanced aluminum manufacturing and recycling plant to establish a new aluminum supply chain based on the circular economy, maintaining aluminum recycling in the UK and consolidating its position as a leader in the adoption of reduction strategies carbon in the industry.
When the plant is operational, the recycled aluminum will make a significant contribution to Diageo's 10-year sustainability action plan, as it will: increase the use of recycled aluminum with Guinness cans made from 100% recycled material; reduce carbon emissions caused by the export and import of aluminum sheets; reduce reliance on the raw materials needed to create aluminium, and contribute to a reduction in Diageo's scope 3 carbon emissions, as the plant will use 95% less energy in the production of its aluminum foil compared to traditional manufacturing methods.
Diageo started their collaboration with BACALL in 2021, with funding for a feasibility study together with the UK government (through Innovate UK) looking at the possibility of and how to adopt a circular economy strategy on a large scale in the aluminum sector adapted to the United Kingdom.
Ewan Andrew, Director of Sustainability and Global Supply Chain and Procurement at Diageo, commented: “We are very pleased to be part of a project that will finally change aluminum production in the UK. We now want to work together with business and government, both to reduce the carbon footprint of aluminum and to bring this part of the supply chain back to the UK."
