Wieland to invest 80 million euros to expand copper recycling in Germany

HAMBURG (Reuters) - Germany’s Wieland Group, one of the world's largest producers of semi-finished copper products, said on Wednesday it will invest 80 million euros ($80 million) in a new copper recycling plant in Germany.

It will be built at unlisted Wieland’s main German production site in Voehringen.

The project will add about 80,000 tonnes of annual recycling capacity and is the next step in the company’s strategy to expand its recycling capabilities worldwide, it said.

With operations at the new plant planned to commence in early 2025, Wieland’s rate of recycled content in its copper products will reach an average of 80 percent worldwide.

By using new technology and electrifying processing steps that are typically gas fired, Wieland said it will be able to further reduce its product carbon footprint.

In June 2022, Wieland also started building a copper recycling facility in Shelbyville in Kentucky in the United States with operations to commence by the end of 2023.

Wieland produced and sold about 748,000 tonnes of copper products in its 2020/21 financial year.

($1 = 1.0058 euros)

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by SImon Cameron-Moore)