Metallurgy firm yesterday inaugurated its Aluminium Can Recycling Center in the Athens suburb of Maroussi, with an annual capacity of 2,800 tons. Environment Minister Vasso Papandreou, who attended the opening, said similar regional centers will be launched later this year in addition to the seven already operating in Attica, Patras and Zakynthos. Fourteen other facilities recycle various types of solid waste. Elval, part of the Viochalco group, is investing about 19 million euros in a primary aluminium recycling plant in Oinofyta, north of Athens. Its recycling center (www. canal.gr) buys cans from the public and accepts visitors in groups.
ELPE shutdowns
Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) will shut its 140,000 barrels-per day- refinery in Aspropyrgos for about six weeks from mid-April, a spokesman said. The turnaround, which will involve a rolling schedule of unit shutdowns from April 18 until the end of May, will be followed in the fall by maintenance work at ELPE’s other plants in Elefsina and Thessaloniki. The 100,000 bpd refinery in Elefsina will undergo a partial shutdown affecting only crude distillation, capacity for 13 days in October. The 67,000 bpd plant in Thessaloniki will have a general shutdown in September for 20 days.