Why run around collecting aluminum cans from consumers if you can get one big consumer to return the aluminum to you directly?
That seems to be the thinking at Alcoa (AA) this week, as the aluminum giant announces a new collaboration with major aerospace aluminum user Boeing (BA 0.01%). According to a press release, Boeing has agreed to collect scrap aluminum discarded in the plane-manufacturing process at Boeing and its suppliers, and deliver it directly to Alcoa for recycling into new aluminum that Boeing can rework into new plane parts.
The scrap, which the parties agree will amount to about 8 million pounds annually, will include aluminum extrusions, sheet, and plate products initially. In time, the parties hope to expand the program to include other, even smaller pieces of scrap metal such as "chips" of aluminum shaved in the process of machining parts.
Commented Alcoa executive Leslie Shuman: "This program will maximize the value of aluminum scrap materials throughout the supply chain while also reducing waste."
