BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Hydro has signed a letter of intent with Brompton to deliver low-carbon aluminium that will reduce both the weight and carbon footprint in Brompton’s range of folding bicycles.
The aluminium provided by Hydro is industry leading with a low CO2 footprint, covering emissions from mine to metal. This will help Brompton reach its ambitions to reduce the carbon footprint of their folding bikes. The brand will also explore applications for low-carbon and post-consumer recycled aluminium as a critical part of delivering these goals.
Eivind Kallevik, executive vice president at Hydro Aluminium Metal, said: “We are proud to partner with innovative customers such as Brompton Bicycles on the road to zero.
“Our customers across industries are setting ambitious decarbonization targets and are queuing up to use recycled, post-consumer aluminium scrap from Europe in their products. We are excited to partner with forward leaning customers such as Brompton.”
Longer term, the two parties have both committed to developing plans to reach net-zero by 2050, and will explore options to increase the use of aluminium in its range of products.
The partnership aims to set a blueprint for both decarbonizing bicycle production and encourage end of life recycling.
Will Carleysmith, chief design and engineering officer at Brompton, added: “We know how important material selection is for the sustainability of our bicycles, and circularity starts on the drawing board.
“Knowing that aluminium is a material that is infinitely recyclable, without loss in quality, means that designing our bicycles with aluminium will make it easier to recycle the aluminium again once a part of the bike comes to the end of its lifecycle.”
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Hydro and Brompton will start exploration of the application of post-consumer recycled aluminium in wheel rims. Development trials are anticipated in Q4 2023.
