Alcoa, aluminium packaging supplier the Ball Corporation and global consumer goods company Unilever have introduced the first consumer personal and home care packaging utilising the ELYSIS carbon-free aluminium smelting technology.
The resulting aerosol can comprises 50% ELYSIS primary aluminium and 50% post-consumer recycled content.
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The partners described the offering as among the lowest‑carbon options currently available.
ELYSIS is a technology joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto, backed by Apple and the governments of Canada and Québec.
It has developed a new aluminium smelting technology.
The process replaces traditional carbon anodes with inert materials in the smelting stage, which eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from smelting by generating oxygen instead of carbon dioxide.
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By GlobalDataIt is aimed at shifting the aluminium value chain towards decarbonisation.
The first industrial‑scale deployment of the technology is in progress.
Alcoa executive vice-president and chief commercial officer Renato Bacchi stated: “Through this collaboration with Ball and Unilever, we’re helping bring low-carbon aluminium into everyday products and demonstrating how innovation at the material level can deliver tangible sustainability benefits.
“We are proud to collaborate across the aluminium value chain to reduce carbon footprints and create real impact in people’s daily lives.”
The initiative was announced ahead of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), to be held in Belem, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, and is positioned as an example of collaboration across the value chain to meet rising demand for products with reduced environmental impact.
Alcoa is a producer of bauxite, alumina and aluminium.
Ball Corporation public affairs chief sustainability officer amd vice-president Ramon Arratia added: “This project combines higher recycled content and low-carbon primary aluminium – both key to decarbonise aluminium packaging and the aluminium sector at large. This is both a packaging innovation and critical supply chain collaboration at work.”
In November 2025, global consumer brands Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever and TOMRA endorsed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s five-year 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business, a plan aimed at speeding the shift to a circular economy for plastics and cutting plastic packaging waste worldwide.
The announcement came as industry groups renew calls for stronger rules following UN talks on a global plastic pollution treaty.
