Magnesium recycling celebrates birthday

• Recycling line launched 20 years ago
• Alloy metal for Speira's aluminium production
• Ecological footprint up to 95 per cent smaller than primary production

“We at Speira Recycling Services Töging are delighted to be celebrating our anniversary: 20 years of recycling magnesium – this light metal that is even lighter than aluminium. We started out on 1 July 2005 as one of the few magnesium recyclers in Germany. In the Speira Group, to which we belong since 2023, we are the only one.

This Speira organisation strengthens us. After all, our aim is to close not just one, but all loops – large and small. It is therefore only logical that our colleagues in Neuss also use our recycled magnesium as an alloy material in can production.

This means that not only we in Töging, but the entire Speira product portfolio benefits from a major ecological advantage: almost all primary magnesium is produced in China and often has a carbon footprint of more than 20 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of metal produced. With our recycling process, we achieve less than 0.6 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of metal produced.

In addition to aluminium, which is also our main focus volume-wise in Töging, we recycle up to 4,500 tonnes of magnesium every year. We do this in shifts of five to six full-time employees seven days a week. At 60-65 per cent, our core business is the conversion of material from an automotive foundry, mainly process recoveries from its castings.

In addition, we recycle all types of class 1 and 2 scrap, partially shredded and with minor contaminiations. With our own shredder, we can also process larger pieces of scrap and pre-treat them for melting down.

We are a member of the International Magnesium Association and our procurement team networks around the globe to develop further sources of magnesium scrap.

We are working on optimising our output for all melting plants in the Speira organisation and their rolling production. We continue to provide our services for casting alloys mainly to customers in the automotive sector. We are actively working on the development of further specifications of recycled magnesium for various applications and we are confident that we will be able to make Speira’s entire recycling portfolio even more valuable,” explains Marcus Heimerl, Plant Manager of Speira Recycling Services in Töging.