Independent verification confirms 70% of rigid metal packaging was recycled in 2010
Metal Packaging Europe asks for stronger commitments regarding the verification of recycling data. Read more
Young Designers Rise to the Aluminium D&T Challenge
The Aluminium industry gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the creative talents of six young designers, winners in the first Alu D&T Challenge competition for 11 to 14 year olds. Read more
MetalMatters announces 2012 programme results
MetalMatters, the metal packaging industry’s kerbside recycling improvement programme, has followed up its initial promise and delivered unprecedented success in 2012. The programme has reached 1.9 million households across 31 local authorities and significantly increased the metals capture rate in each campaign. Read more
First MetalMatters campaign of 2013 launches in South London
The metal packaging industry has launched its landmark MetalMatters recycling programme to households across South London, in a move to boost collection levels for metal packaging at kerbsides in the capital.
l-r: Rick Hindley, Alupro; Mike Stafford, Viridor; Cllr Derek Osborne, SLWP Chair and Rachel Lewis, Chair, SLWP Management Group
The innovative six-week campaign is the first of its kind to launch in London, and will involve two leaflet drops delivered to all 365,000 households across the four Boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership – Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton.
This will be supported with outdoor advertising on buses, trams and collection vehicles to remind people that all metal packaging can be recycled and reused endlessly. The campaign will be supported by local activities organised by each of the Boroughs.
The South London campaign is being jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging, Recycle for London and recycling company Viridor. This is the first campaign to receive a direct financial contribution from a waste management contractor.
Councillor Derek Osbourne, Chair of the South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee, said: “This is the first time that the MetalMatters programme has been implemented in London. The campaign shows our commitment to increasing recycling rates and keeping valuable recyclables away from landfill sites.
“People in South London are keen to do their bit for the environment, and the campaign is a great way for us to encourage them to recycle household items such as food and drink cans and aerosols more often.”
Viridor’s Regional Manager, Mike Stafford, said: “I am delighted that Viridor is able to support the MetalMatters campaign. Supporting initiatives like this is at the core of our business and I look forward to seeing more metal packaging arriving at our facilities for recycling in the months to come.”
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of MetalMatters project managers Alupro, said: “The South London campaign is a great way to kick-off MetalMatters in 2013. We are delighted to be working with Recycle for London, and that Viridor have agreed to come on board and make a significant financial contribution to the campaign; it makes it a true partnership programme. We are looking forward to seeing the impact the MetalMatters campaign has on metal packaging capture rates.”
This is the first MetalMatters campaign to launch in 2013 and follows five other projects that ran around the UK in 2012. Over 2 million households have now been reached by the programme since Alupro was charged with project management by founding partners BCME, Novelis Recycling and Tata Steel in 2011
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For further information contact:
Laura O’Meara at Citypress on 0121 314 4195 / laura.omeara@citypress.co.uk
Environment Secretary asks Scotland’s Businesses to ‘make every can count’
Drinks can recycling programme Every Can Counts launched in Scotland today (26th November) to help businesses make sure recycling is in the can.
In Scotland, an estimated 252 million drinks cans are consumed per year outside the home, either ‘on the go’ or by employees in the workplace . Every Can Counts estimates that an organisation of 50 employees could recycle 3,000 drinks cans per year by making recycling part of their everyday routine2.
Every Can Counts has been developed by the drinks can manufacturing and recycling industry. Its launch in Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government’s delivery partner, Zero Waste Scotland, and A.G. Barr. It marks a three-year commitment to drive up recycling rates within the workplace.
The organisations have joined forces with Every Can Counts to spearhead workplace recycling ahead of the new Waste (Scotland) Regulations which come into force in January 2014 and will require all businesses to separate paper and card, plastic, metal and glass for recycling.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Making one drinks can from raw materials uses the same amount of energy as it takes to make 20 cans through recycling. Recycling cans gives our economy a boost through access to a good supply of metal; recycling waste is generally cheaper for organisations than sending it to landfill, which also helps to tackle climate change.
“Recycling at work and while we are on the go will help to meet Scotland’s ambitions targets to recycle 70 per cent of all waste by 2025. To support this, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations require all businesses to separate dry materials by January 2014.”
Andrew McFarlan, Programme Manager Scotland, Every Can Counts said; “It makes good business sense for workplaces to get in the habit of drinks can recycling. With the launch of this new partnership in Scotland it’s now easier than ever to provide employees with facilities such as recycling bins, posters and leaflets to recycle. It also allows businesses to bolster their environmental credentials and demonstrate a clear commitment to reducing waste. With Every Can Counts businesses can be up and running within five days – it’s that simple.”
Jonathan Kemp, Commercial Director, A.G. Barr said: “Recycling and re-using packaging have always been important issues at A.G.Barr and we are committed to doing what we can to encourage everyone to dispose of products and packaging responsibly. We are supporting Every Can Counts because we share their aims of reducing waste and re-using and recycling more. The Every Can Counts scheme makes it simple and easy for people to recycle more drinks cans at work and whilst on the go. It will also help contribute towards achieving the Scottish Government’s national recycling target.”
Iain Gulland, Director of Zero Waste Scotland, added: “Ensuring businesses are informed about the new regulatory requirements for recycling, and ready to comply and reap the associated benefits, is a key focus for us next year. We will be actively engaging with businesses across the country, and providing a variety of support and guidance, to do this.
“We already work with local authorities to help them drive up householder recycling rates, using tools including Recycle for Scotland – a brand which, like Every Can Counts, has galvanised support from UK retailers. We will be rolling this out in Scottish workplaces too, and Every Can Counts is a perfect complement to that. Increasing our can recycling rates holds both environmental and economic benefits, and it’s fantastic to see the recycling industry driving this forward with our support.”
Every Can Counts helps employers with setting up and promoting drinks can recycling within their organisation and is designed to complement existing recycling facilities or as a stand-alone scheme.
Since launching in the UK three years ago, the programme has so far helped businesses save over 75 million drink cans (1138 tonnes of aluminium and steel)3 for recycling and avoiding 8,529 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions4.
As an added incentive Every Can Counts are offering the first 100 businesses to sign up to the programme in Scotland a free starter pack, advice and resources to introduce and promote recycling facilities to their workplaces.
Aluminium on course to hit Targets
The aluminium packaging sector is on course to reach its 2012 recycling targets, but the PRN system is entering uncharted territory, according to Rick Hindley, chief executive of the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).
Addressing an audience from across the metals and recycling industry at the organisation’s annual seminar in Birmingham, Mr Hindley predicted that in2012 the aluminium sector would reach its target.; “Recently released data for Q3 shows that there is underlying growth of around 2 per cent overall compared to last year, with the 100% packaging category up by around five per cent.”
However Mr Hindley said that there is a real possibility that for the first time ever a packaging material may miss its recycling target and that the effect on the system could be significant.
Welcoming the Government’s new packaging targets set to 2017 he said they create ambitious objectives, which complement Alupro’s own, and he believes there is no doubt that they will move recycling forward.
He added that in order to achieve the new targets, Alupro members and their partners will be focussing efforts on increasing the kerbside collection of aluminium, and other metal packaging, as well as working to ensure that aluminium packaging recovered from residual waste through energy from waste plants (EFW) and other treatment technologies counts towards the officially reported recycling performance.
“We estimate that to reach the new targets a further 19,000 tonnes of aluminium packaging will need to be recovered. Our business plan shows that the majority of this material will have to come from improving capture rates from kerbside collections and by officially recognising the aluminium that is recovered from incinerator bottom ash (IBA). . To achieve this we are working on establishing a new protocol to formally account for the aluminium packaging that is already being recovered, and will continue to be recovered, as new waste treatment plants come on stream. It is essential that we are able to officially account material towards the targets, as they do in every other country in Europe.” said Mr Hindley.
He went on to outline Alupro’s long-term vision for aluminium packaging recycling saying: “As an industry we have a shared vision to go beyond the 2017 targets and achieve a total recycling rate of 70% of aluminium packaging by 2020.
“Achieving our ambition will require us to develop strategic partnerships across the metal packaging sector, and with local authorities and waste management companies to boost performance of existing collection systems to ensure that over 80% of aluminium beverage cans in circulation are collected for recycling.”
He added: “For over 20 years this industry has led the year on year increases in aluminium’s recycling performance. Campaigns such as Every Can Counts and MetalMatters are testament to our on-going commitment.”
He concluded: “By developing strategic partnerships especially with local authorities and waste management companies, we are confident that we can achieve our goals.”
MetalMatters launches most ambitious programme to date
MetalMatters, the metal packaging industry-led programme designed to increase the capture rate for metal packaging collected at the kerbside, has launched its most ambitious campaign to date, in partnership with Kent Waste Partnership.
The latest campaign sees the marketing communications campaign roll out across 12 local authorities in Kent. It will run until early December and will include two direct mail drops to each of the 630,000 households in the county.
Since its pilot in 2010 MetalMatters has been closely followed by policy makers, and featured in the Government’s Review of Waste Policy in 2011 as an example of Best Practice. Now recently-appointed Minister for Resources, Local Environment and Environmental Science Lord de Mauley has also given the programme his support.
Commenting on the launch Lord de Mauley said: “MetalMatters is a great example of how industry and local authorities can work together to engage local communities, drive up recycling rates and also support further development of our waste management and recycling sectors. The programme in Kent is on a very ambitious scale and we will follow this campaign with interest to see what it achieves.”
The Kent campaign includes leaflets, which will be sent to every home in all 12 districts, supported by locally-targeted advertising and awareness-raising events. Recycling vehicles and buses will carry the ‘make your metals matter’ message. The eight week campaign, which is managed by Alupro, is being jointly funded by an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging and Kent Waste Partnership.
Cllr Paul Barrington-King, Chairman of Kent Waste Partnership (KWP) said: “The partnership between the KWP and MetalMatters demonstrates the clear desire for Kent’s councils to work strategically and practically on improving the capture of valuable recyclates. The support of the Minister for the programme validates our supply chain approach is very much the way to go. It continues to place the KWP at the vanguard of supply chain thinking and activities”
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro added: “2012 has been an exciting year for MetalMatters, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to run the programme on such a grand scale in Kent. We are looking forward to seeing how the campaign develops and the impact it has on household metal packaging and attitudes to recycling.”
There have been five MetalMatters campaigns during 2012 covering 27 local authorities and reaching 1.5 million households.
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Picture shows (l-r) Paul Vanston of Kent Waste Partnership, Ruth Meeke of Alupro and Norman Lett of Beverage Can Makers Europe
Unilever Backs MetalMatters
Unilever UK has been announced as the latest partner of the MetalMatters programme. The company behind many well-known food, home and personal care brands has pledged its support for the programme and is the second consumer goods giant to back the innovative recycling programme.
Developed by the metal packaging industry, MetalMatters is designed to increase the capture rate for metal packaging collected for recycling by households. It is jointly funded by a partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging.
Unilever, which runs Europe’s largest aerosol factory, has pledged an initial commitment for two years. Its support builds on a previous successful partnership with the Aerofoil programme, which has helped over 100 local authorities, covering 5.8 million households, expand their collection systems to include aluminium foil, and/or aerosols. The MetalMatters partnership is already working with a number of local authorities across the UK, with the recent campaign rolled out in Portsmouth being the first to benefit from Unilever funding.
Louis Lindenberg, global packaging sustainability director at Unilever, said: “One of our packaging goals set out in our Sustainable Living Plan is to work with partners in NGOs, government and industry to increase recycling by 5% by 2015 and 15% by 2020. This partnership takes us one step closer towards reaching this goal and demonstrates our continued efforts to help consumers reduce waste.
“As a consumer business it is imperative to take the lead and support initiatives that aim to shift consumer attitudes and help increase the amount of materials recovered for recycling. We have been impressed by the early successes delivered by the
MetalMatters programme, and realise that continued success depends on the involvement of brand-users of metal packaging. We look forward to making a positive contribution to MetalMatters’ continued success.”
Alupro executive director Rick Hindley, added: “Unilever’s backing for MetalMatters demonstrates that the programme is being seen as a best practice model within the industry, and is offering its partners an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to driving up recycling performance. The scale and potential of any programme is, of course, dependent on funding from key stakeholders; we welcome Unilever’s support and look forward to seeing MetalMatters continue to help householders recycle more at home.”
MetalMatters is managed on behalf of its funding partners by Alupro. So far this year the programme has developed campaigns with 15 local authorities and waste partnerships in the UK.
New Education Resources link Aluminium to Design & Technology Curriculum
A new education initiative challenging students to realise the design potential of aluminium, and the sustainability benefits of using this valuable material in everyday life, has been launched by the Aluminium industry.
The free teaching resource – the Alu D&T Challenge – is aimed at secondary school students between the ages of 11 and 14 (Key Stage 3). As well as providing information and lesson plans for teachers, students are challenged to design a sustainable item using Aluminium, based upon one of four themes: transport, built environment, packaging and technology. Schools can also enter the designs in a national competition which will be judged by a panel of industry and design experts.
Developed by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) in partnership with the Aluminium Federation (ALFED) the resources have been endorsed by the Design and Technology Association (DATA),
Rick Hindley, Alupro executive director said: “The Alu D&T Challenge will help teachers raise students’ awareness of the value of aluminium and the importance of design for recyclability, to deliver both economic and environmental benefits.
“Aluminium is used in almost every aspect of modern life, from food and drink packaging to buildings and in aerospace. Its material properties offer many benefits to designers, but perhaps most importantly it can be recycled endlessly without any loss in quality. These materials have been developed to reflect our industry’s commitment to promoting recycling and delivering lasting behavioural change.”
School teachers will be able to enter their students’ designs into the Alu D&T Challenge competition until 23rd November. Prizes include a 3D printer for winning schools in each category, and a cash prize for the students. Winners will be announced in January 2013.
Andy Mitchell, Assistant Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association, said: “It is excellent to see this new D&T education resource made available to teachers. The Alu D&T Challenge provides a unique opportunity for key stage 3 students to produce innovative and creative responses to real, relevant and exciting design challenges and address sustainability issues. The resources will make a significant contribution to every schools’ modern D&T curriculum.”
Alupro’s partnership with ALFED to deliver the new education resource follows a period of significant activity and investment to boost recycling participation and capture rates for aluminium, and all metal packaging. This has also seen the organisation expand its membership to include the major producers of household foil and several major brands including Coca Cola and Nespresso.
Record recycling rates for aluminium packaging and drinks cans in 2011 reflects an increasing awareness of the economic value of recycling aluminium packaging, and the contribution it can make to the viability of a recycling programme.
Rick added: “Industry funded programmes such as Every Can Counts, Aerofoil and most recently MetalMatters, have not only increased aluminium capture rates, they are delivering a real shift in consumer behaviour leading to increased capture rates for all materials.
“Alongside programmes like MetalMatters and Every Can Counts, the Alu D&T Challenge will play a fundamental role in bringing about long-term behavioural change to ensure we maximise recycling rates for aluminium packaging.”
Every Can Counts in Weymouth & Portland this summer
Out-of-home drinks can recycling programme Every Can Counts has partnered with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to promote on-street recycling to local residents and visitors.
Twenty Every Can Counts-branded can crushers have been installed across the borough in high footfall locations in and around the town centre and tourist sites . The can crushers are designed to make recycling easy, accessible and convenient, and complement recycling ‘twin bins’ for plastic bottles, cans and paper that have also recently been installed in the area. Of the twenty can crushers that will be installed, ten have been provided by the UK Can Makers, a funding partner of Every Can Counts.
With the population of Weymouth set to almost double as a result of visiting tourists, day trippers and spectators this summer, the council is using the Every Can Counts programme to help rise to the occasion and effectively meet the increased recycling needs.The can crushers will be supported by a promotions campaign to raise awareness amongst the local community and visitors.
After the summer, ten can crushers will remain in the area to help ensure Weymouth’s recycling efforts are maintained in the longer term. The other ten will be redeployed to support different projects promoting out of home recycling through the Every Can Counts programme.
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is currently working towards a recycling rate of 60% in line with Dorset’s Waste Strategy. The Every Can Counts programme complements this and supports the council’s goal of increasing overall awareness of recycling as a way of life in Dorset.
Rick Hindley of Every Can Counts commented: “A very exciting summer lies ahead for Weymouth and we’re honoured to be working with the council to help the environmental message get seen, heard and acted upon. Meeting the recycling needs of the estimated 50,000 people set to visit the borough this summer is no small feat. It’s encouraging to see Weymouth and Portland Borough Council lead the way in keeping recycling front of mind for both visitors and local residents.”
The partnership builds upon previous successful Every Can Counts programmes running in nearby Bournemouth and Poole beaches, which inspired Weymouth and Portland to get involved. The investment in Weymouth and Portland almost doubles the number of Every Can Counts can crushers currently available in public places across the UK.
Councillor Ian Roebuck, Brief Holder for Environment and Sustainability at Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, said: “The Every Can Counts initiative is a great way to help more people recycle drinks cans. The fantastic can crushers located across Weymouth mean residents and visitors can recycle their cans whilst they are out and about easily and conveniently. I am sure that these can crushers will mean we will get more people involved in recycling.”
In addition to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, Every Can Counts collection points can be found at over 1,900 sites including beaches, shopping centres, music festivals and outdoor events. The programme is funded by a partnership comprising UK and European drinks can manufacturers, the aluminium and steel packaging and recycling industries, and energy drinks brand Red Bull.
