NEUSS, Germany — On the left bank of the Rhine, the European Union’s third-largest aluminum smelter sits idle. No smoke rises from its four spindly chimneys; the giant pots, once filled to the brim with molten silvery liquid, have long cooled. They won’t fire up again.
When the Rheinwerk plant stopped smelting in 2023, citing exorbitant energy prices, it sent shock waves through a country haunted by the threat of deindustrialization. The shutdown meant job losses and ended a 60-year tradition in Neuss, a midsize German city halfway between Cologne and the Dutch border.
But behind three silent production halls, the factory now hums with round-the-clock activity. Furnaces roar, shredders rumble and electric trucks zip around the foundry. The Rheinwerk is still producing aluminum ingots the length of a minibus.
There’s just one difference: These metal blocks are made from trash — making them less energy-intensive and more sustainable than the freshly smelted stuff, known as primary aluminum.
