New Zealand-owned aluminium can manufacturer Recorp has expanded into Australia, offering beverage companies access to a range of can formats manufactured at its South Auckland facility.
Recorp is positioning manufacturing flexibility, lower minimum order quantities and high recycled content as its main points of difference.
The company will supply Australian customers from its 16,000-square-metre plant in Manukau, South Auckland. Opened in November 2024 following an investment Recorp puts at NZ$115 million, the facility has capacity to manufacture about 550 million cans annually.
Its production line operates at up to 1850 cans a minute and incorporates eight bodymakers, dual decorators and equipment designed for relatively rapid changes between can heights and diameters.
For Australian beverage companies, the range includes 250ml Slim, 330ml Sleek and Classic cans in 330ml, 375ml, 440ml and 500ml formats. Classic cans can be manufactured with either 200 or 202 diameter ends.
Recorp says the flexibility of its plant allows it to accept lower minimum order quantities and shorten lead times, helping smaller beverage producers and larger companies testing new products avoid substantial initial inventory commitments. The company has not disclosed its minimum order volumes.
Founder and chair Rob Fyfe said this capability was built into the plant from its inception.
“The plant is set up in a way that lowers minimum order quantities, allowing brands to trial new products without the same level of upfront investment,” he said.
“That supports small and medium-sized brands as they grow and gives larger businesses more scope to test new beverage concepts.”
Fyfe, a former CEO of Air New Zealand, founded Recorp with backing from a group of private New Zealand investors. CEO Bruce Parton, also a former Air New Zealand executive, has been tasked with establishing the company across the Australasian market.
Recorp is also introducing ReCan85, its beverage can it says is manufactured with 85 per cent recycled aluminium. The company describes it as being among the highest recycled-content beverage cans available in Australasia and says the level is above the 60–65 per cent it regards as the international industry average.
The recycled material includes post-consumer aluminium recovered from used beverage cans. Under Recorp’s New Zealand supply model, collected cans are processed offshore before the aluminium is returned to its Auckland facility for manufacture into new cans.
The ReCan85 enters an Australian market in which other manufacturers are also raising recycled content. Visy, for example, began an 18-month trial in 2025 of an aluminium beverage can containing an average of 83 per cent recycled content, produced at its Yatala plant in Queensland.
Parton said Recorp’s broader objective was to grow aluminium’s share of the single-serve beverage market, particularly in categories currently using plastic and glass bottles.
While the company describes the Australian entry as a “launch”, no Australian manufacturing facility has been announced. The immediate development is the extension of Recorp’s New Zealand production and customer service operation to Australian beverage brands.
