Scholz is using its recycling know-how to design a plant and to process more than 200,000 tons of aluminum scrap and 50,000 end-of-life vehicles per year. The recycling park will provide Hongqiao’s demand on input material for further growth and, at the same time, supports sustainability and improves environmental protection. One ton of recycled aluminum saves around 83 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and up to 94 percent of energy compared to the production from raw materials.
The signing of the joint venture agreement is an important step for both companies, Hongqiao and Scholz. “Hongqiao and Scholz are now joining hands to build the Sino-German Hongqiao Scholz Circular Economy Science & Technology Cooperation Project and to set up a benchmark in the field of recycling and renewables. We collaborate, not only because we have matching strengths and technologies, but we coincide in our ideologies to pursue green and sustainable development as well. Rooted in the manufacturing industry, we are to recycle industrial waste, to take advantage of our strengths and values in the circular economy, and to contribute more to our society’s green and sustainable development”, Zhang Bo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hongqiao, highlights in his remarks.
Rafael Suchan, Chief Executive Officer of the Scholz Recycling Group, also emphasizes that “We appreciate very much that we take our first steps in China together with such an important partner like Hongqiao. The opportunities provided by China’s green growth development plan based on a circular economy and the country’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2060 are of great benefit for the environment – and hence, also for our company Scholz. Having a highly innovative partner like China Hongqiao enables us to accelerate the ambitious goals to facilitate a well-functioning recycling market in China.”
Scholz Chief Operating Officer Marc Breidenbach says, that his team “now has the key role to bring in our comprehensive processing know-how at the upcoming layout and construction phase. We have an experienced international project team consisting of engineers from Europe and China supported by additional experts from Scholz’s Recycling Innovation & Technology Center in Germany who are ensuring a state-of-the-art two-shredder processing line.”
The core components are on the one hand an end-of-life vehicle shredder and, on the other hand, an aluminum shredder. Both lines will be combined further downstream with the latest separation process technologies to feed the joint venture’s remelting plant converting scrap into high-quality billets for Hongqiao’s aluminum production. The next steps will also include the setup and expansion of a local trading team in China to ensure that recycled high-quality aluminum is available in sufficient quantities.
