"The Aluminium Industry and the Environment: Tackling Industrial Pollution in Switzerland, Scotland and Norway, 1890-2000"

Aluminium is frequently characterised as the “green metal”. It is the most recyclable of all industrial materials, and it can be recycled over and over again, with very little loss of its properties. In the words of European Aluminium, the industry organization of European aluminium producers, aluminium is a sustainable material and “a unique metal driving the green transition.”
However, the production of aluminium in itself does not come without negative local environmental impacts. This was evident already from the birth of the modern aluminium industry in the last decade of the 19th century. The aluminium smelting process led to significant emissions of fluoride waste. As a consequence, immediately after the first aluminium smelters started operating, nearby vegetation was damaged. Soon it became apparent that the emissions also negatively impacted the health of the workers in the smelters. Thus, from the start of the industry, the question of how to deal with the harmful effects of aluminium smelting on local environments became an important political, technological, and societal issue.
The aim of this paper is to analyse how three different aluminium producing countries in Europe dealt with this issue. Switzerland and the UK were pioneers in the industry and had operating smelters from the late 1880s/early 1890s, while the first smelter in Norway started operating in 1908. Throughout the 20th century, they continued to be significant aluminium producing countries. How did these different states tackle industrial pollution from the aluminium industry, and how did the environmental policies change over time? Based on original source material from all three countries, both from industry and government sources, the issue is analysed through a comparative and international framework.