Lowcountry Proud: Green Business

The Alcoa Mount Holly Plant is situated on over 6500 acres of plantation land in Berkeley County. The aluminum smelter was built in 1980 and is a leader in environmental efforts both here in the Lowcountry and around the world. The facility produces over 235 thousand tons of aluminum every year. “The Mount Holly Facility is a primary aluminum facility, which means we take aluminum oxide and we reduce that through an electrolytic process into aluminum metal that we cast into various shapes,” explains Henk Van Der Meyden of Alcoa.
Sustainability is important to Alcoa and the aluminum industry. In fact, 90% of all aluminum that has ever been produced is still being used today.
“What we do at this facility here is so we can be a sustainable operation and to minimize our impact so we can be here for the long term is to make sure our operations are sustainable as well,” said Van Der Meyden.
One example of Alcoa’s commitment to sustainability lies in a byproduct of making aluminum. The facility recycles carbon dust, which is then used in the steel industry to make high carbon steel.
“You go through that hierarchy of reuse it yourself, have it be beneficial reuse for somebody and then if you have to you send it to the landfill,” explained Van Der Meyden.
It’s with that vision that the Alcoa Mount Holly Facility has decreased their landfill tonnage 75% over the last 18 years. They have gone from 2,000 tons in 1990 to less than 500 this past year.
“The ultimate goal by 2020 is to be down to zero landfill waste,” said a hopeful Van Der Meyden.