Alcoa, Ball Corporation and Unilever partner to launch the first use of ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology in consumer personal and home care packaging.
ELYSIS is a technology created in a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto, with support from Apple and the governments of Canada and Québec, to revolutionise aluminium production.
This collaboration marks the first time aluminium produced using ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology — an innovation that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from smelting generating oxygen in place of CO2 — is being used in consumer personal and home care packaging.
The resulting aerosol can, made with 50% ELYSIS primary aluminium and 50% post-consumer recycled content, represents one of the lowest-carbon packaging solutions of its kind.
“Through this collaboration with Ball and Unilever, we’re helping bring low-carbon aluminium into everyday products and demonstrating how innovation at the material level can deliver tangible sustainability benefits,” said Renato Bacchi, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Alcoa.
“We are proud to collaborate across the aluminium value chain to reduce carbon footprints and create real impact in people’s daily lives.”
The initiative comes ahead of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) — a gathering of global leaders to discuss climate change and the need for collaborative solutions across multiple sectors.
Ramon Arratia, Chief Sustainability Officer & Vice President, Public Affairs at Ball Corporation, added: “This project combines higher recycled content and low-carbon primary aluminium - both key to decarbonise aluminium packaging and the aluminium sector at large.
"This is both a packaging innovation and critical supply chain collaboration at work.”
The debut of ELYSIS aluminium in consumer personal and home care packaging marks a pivotal moment for the aluminium packaging and consumer goods industries, as well as in reducing GHG emissions.
