Residents urged to make their metals matter this Easter
A new campaign has been launched to urge people living in Shropshire to make their ‘metals matter’ by encouraging them to recycle more of the estimated 80 million tins, cans, aerosols aluminium foil trays and wrapping foil they use in their homes every year.
Shropshire Council has been promoting the campaign, which was launched in March 2014, and were on hand to spread the recycling message when children from St Laurence’s Parent and Toddlers group in Church Stretton took part in their annual Easter egg hunt this week.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said:
“We’re calling on local residents to make their metals matter and help increase the county’s recycling performance- particularly over Easter.
“We are committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and we hope the campaign will encourage our residents to recycle more of the metal packaging they use every day. Every can recycled saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours, and small actions like putting your foil wrappers in your recycling box can make a big difference.”
The metal packaging manufacturing industry, recyclers and fillers have teamed up with Shropshire Council to launch the ‘make your metals matter’ recycling campaign, following research that shows people aren’t always aware that their used metal packaging will be transformed into new valuable everyday items when collected for recycling.
Used metal packaging can be recycled endlessly into new products at a far lower cost to industry, and the environment, than making them from raw materials. The new campaign aims to help people understand what can be recycled and explain what happens to the metals collected.
If all the metal packaging used in Shropshire each year was collected for recycling it would save around 4,260 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking 835 cars off local streets. Aiming to spread this message throughout the county , the communications campaign will target all 120,000 households with leaflets sent to every home, messages on recycling vehicles and a programme of awareness events and roadshows over the next three months.
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of project managers Alupro, said:
“We have done extensive research into recycling habits and found that it is often the uncertainty of how to recycle, and what happens to the items recycled that prevents people from doing more. Campaigns like this allow us to take the recycling message into people’s homes and highlight exactly how they can help just by recycling more of the packaging they use every day.”
The campaign across Shropshire is being jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging and contractor Veolia. MetalMatters is run by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.
For further information contact: Jessica Smith at Citypress on 0121 314 9458 or jessica.smith@citypress.co.uk.
in the photo are: front – Toby Westall; back – left-to-right – Eowyn Lowe, Isobel Lowe, Kat Halstead of Shropshire Council, Rhys Farrow, Joe Halstead.
Further information
About MetalMatters
MetalMatters was developed and is funded by the metal packaging manufacturing industry, reprocessors and fillers. The programme works in partnership with local authorities and their waste collection partners to promote metal packaging recycling, and thereby improve capture rates for metal packaging at the kerbside. The MetalMatters programme is supported by WRAP. MetalMatters is being managed on behalf of the funding partners by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).
For details of MetalMatters campaigns and case studies visit www.metalmatters.org.uk.
About MetalMatters
MetalMatters was developed and is funded by the metal packaging manufacturing industry, reprocessors and fillers. The programme works in partnership with local authorities and their waste collection partners to promote metal packaging recycling, and thereby improve capture rates for metal packaging at the kerbside. The MetalMatters programme is supported by WRAP. MetalMatters is being managed on behalf of the funding partners by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).
For details of MetalMatters campaigns and case studies visit www.metalmatters.org.uk.
MetalMatters funding partners
Industry organisations:
Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro)
Beverage Can Makers Europe (BCME)
British Aerosol Manufacturers Association (BAMA)
Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA)
European Aluminium Association (EAA)
Metal Reprocessors
Novelis UK Ltd
Tata Steel
Foil container manufacturers
Coppice Alupack
Nicholl Food Packaging
i2r Packaging Solutions
Household foil manufacturers
Wrap Film Systems
WrapEx Ltd
ITS
Metal Packaging manufacturers
Ardagh Group
Guala Closures
Packer/fillers
Coca Cola Enterprises Ltd
Unilever
