Page 23 from: Recycling International Jan/Feb 2025

23recyclinginternational.com | January/February | 2025

BUSINESS

Flores. The plants house the latest in
recycling and melting technology,
including shredders and big furnaces.

PORT ACCESS
Ingots are mostly sold on the domes-
tic market but the company also has
customers outside Mexico. ‘Roughly
25% is export while 75% stays in
Mexico, of which 30% remains in
Monterrey,’ says Calvillo, illustrating
the scale of the region’s industry.
As for logistics, exports are straight-
forward thanks to the proximity of
major ports only a three-hour drive

away – providing direct access to the
Gulf of Mexico.

MAGNET MONTERREY
As a major industrial hub and an
important economic booster,
Monterrey attracts many young peo-
ple as it did with Calvillo. ‘From all
over the country they come here to
study engineering, economics and so
on. Many find a job, decide to stay
and build a future. Companies like
Arzyz can only be happy because we
need these talents to further devel-
op.’

The company produces aluminium ingots for customers at home and abroad.

Every day, a
dozen trucks
each carrying 20
tonnes of high
quality
aluminium scrap
enter the Arzyz
facility.

KADERKOP
??

manufacturing and technology sec-
tors. The latest is carmaker Tesla’s
announcement of Gigafactory Mexico
near Monterrey, providing thousands
of jobs. But the US$ 10 billion (EUR 9
billion) project is on hold and a final
decision has been postponed.
With or without Tesla, car manufactur-
ing is a major and growing industry in
Mexico. In the central Guanajuato
region, one of the country’s car-mak-
ing heartlands, 11 leading manufac-
turers including BMW and Mercedes-
Benz have arrived in recent years to
open modern facilities.
Clearly, the scale of this development
also offers major opportunities for the
recycling industry. Carmakers are hun-
gry for aluminium. At the same time,
they create tonnes of production
scrap which recyclers like aluminium
ingot producer Arzyz are happy to
consume.

BEST PRACTICE
It’s an hour by taxi from the centre of
Monterrey to the state-of-the art
facilities of Arzyz, north of the city, at
an industrial site called Ciénega de
Flores. From here it’s 200 km through
dry and dusty desert land to the
Mexican-US border.
‘Bienvenido a Arzyz,’ says the compa-
ny’s Vanesa Calvillo with big smile.
‘Here we produce high-quality alu-
minium ingots made of 80% scrap

and 20% prime material.’
On an average day, a dozen trucks
each carrying 20 tonnes of ‘high-qual-
ity’ scrap pass the gate at the Arzyz
facility. Scrap is sourced from all over
Mexico, from small- and medium-
sized collectors but also directly from
manufacturers. Calvillo: ‘It can be
stamp leftovers from carmakers or
from producers of construction mate-
rials such as window frames.’ Arzyz
also buys scrap from suppliers in the
US.

MATURE BUSINESS
Arzys has come a long way. What
started 45 years ago as a tiny busi-
ness – ‘with one furnace the size of
small car’ – is today a major, multi-
million aluminium recycler and pro-
ducer.
It has three facilities in the greater
Monterrey area and new facilities are
underway, boosting production
capacity and scrap usage. A US$ 650
million investment was recently
announced for the expansion, which
is expected to create 1 300 new jobs.
Arzyz has already invested millions in
its new facilities at Ciénega de

22-23_mexico39;sarzyz.indd 23 29-01-2025 11:24