On Tuesday 7th July 2026, representatives from the Aluminium Federation (ALFED) visited Swan Alloy in Swansea alongside colleagues from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to gain first-hand insight into the opportunities and challenges facing the UK’s aluminium recycling and secondary production industry.
The visit saw Rachel Wiffen and Sophie Allen from ALFED joined by Rebecca Scott and Tomos Rowley of DBT, who were welcomed by Anthony Douglas and the Swan Alloy team for a tour of the company’s facilities and a discussion on current industry priorities.
As a key player within the UK’s aluminium recycling landscape, Swan Alloy provided valuable insight into its operations, highlighting both its successes and the wider challenges affecting the sector. Discussions focused on rising energy costs, international competitiveness, regulatory pressures and the impact these factors can have on investment decisions across the industry.
The group also explored material flows within the aluminium supply chain, including the loss of value through exported materials and the challenges created by limited domestic processing capacity. Further conversations examined waste handling and processing constraints, and the implications these can have for costs, safety and the UK’s ability to retain more value from recycled materials.
The visit provided an important opportunity for DBT representatives to see how these issues affect businesses at site level and to hear directly from industry on the practical challenges facing aluminium recyclers and secondary producers.
Insights gathered during the visit will help support ongoing discussions around supply chain resilience, circular economy objectives and the long-term competitiveness of the UK aluminium sector.
Visits like these are invaluable in helping bridge the gap between policy and practice. Swan Alloy is an excellent example of the expertise and capability that exists within the UK aluminium recycling sector, and the discussions highlighted both the opportunities and challenges that businesses are navigating every day.
ALFED extends its thanks to Anthony Douglas and the entire Swan Alloy team for hosting the visit and facilitating such a productive discussion.
To learn more about ALFED, or to become a member, please visit: www.alfed.org.uk
To learn more about Swan Alloy, please visit: www.swanalloy.com
