Driving decarbonisation forward yet again, TECHNAL part of Hydro, has reached a new milestone for its recycled, end-of-life aluminium Hydro CIRCAL 75R, which now carries a carbon footprint of just 1.9 CO2e/kg of aluminium - 78% less compared to the European average.

Originally launched in 2019, Hydro CIRCAL 75R is a prime quality recycled aluminium, made with a minimum of 75% recycled post-consumer scrap. When guaranteeing more than 75 % recycled content, TECHNAL exclusively refers to aluminium that has reached its end-of-life as a product-in-use and is brought back into the loop.

Using the knowledge gathered over the past few years, the Norwegian aluminium group Hydro has once again taken a step forward within recycling. Advances in sourcing, sorting and traceability of post-consumer aluminium scrap, and an optimized melting process, allows the company to deliver Hydro CIRCAL 75R with an embodied footprint of only 1.9 kg CO2e per kilo aluminium, down from the previous 2.3 kilo. The new lower carbon footprint of Hydro CIRCAL 75R recycled aluminium is documented by an Environmental Product Declaration and is available across all products of TECHNAL.

Hydro also offers an even lower footprint of just 0.5 kilo CO2e per kilo aluminium. This means it is possible to specify door, window and façade profiles with a near-zero carbon footprint (scope 1, 2 and 3) – among the lowest in the world.

For now, the Hydro CIRCAL 100R is only offered for special, dedicated projects, however, thanks to advancements in technology and manufacturing process, Hydro CIRCAL 100R will progressively become more accessible as the company is focused on developing its urban mining partnerships to further enhance circularity.

TECHNAL’s using Hydro CIRCAL recycled aluminium exemplifies the brands’ innovative spirit and commitment to anticipating specifier needs – going beyond regulations and playing a leading role in the decarbonisation of tomorrow’s buildings.

Also, TECHNAL enables developers and specifiers to determine the environmental impact of projects or individual products thanks to the dynamic Life Cycle Assessment

(LCA) functionality via the fabricator software TechDesign by providing the actual environmental impact of the material used in its products, rather than using generic data.

Lucile Souyri, Sustainability Manager at Hydro Building Systems explains: “Low carbon innovation and circularity is at the heart of our commercial strategy. Company-wide, we are working hard together with our suppliers and construction industry partners to find new ways of reducing carbon impact. This Hydro CIRCAL carbon footprint reduction is one initiative. We have also halved the carbon footprint of the extrusion process, compared to the European average, which will reduce the carbon footprint of our products even further. More projects are ongoing, including how our end-of-life façades will be dismantled and recycled. And we won’t stop there.”