Luton Council in the UK urges residents to recycle more aluminium foils and cans

Luton Borough Council in the UK is encouraging residents to recycle more of the estimated 94 million aluminium cans, aerosols, aluminium foil trays and wrapping foil used in Luton every year.

The ‘Make your Metals Matter’ campaign, jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging, and Luton Borough Council, will run throughout June and highlight how used metal packaging such as aluminium cans or tin cans, aluminium foils, can be transformed into new, valuable items when collected with recycling.

According to the campaign, if all the metal packaging used in Luton each year was collected for recycling, it would save around 2,548 tonnes of carbon dioxide – equivalent to taking over 542 cars off local streets for a year.

Alex Constantinides, Service Director of the Public Realm at Luton Borough Council, said: “The council is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, and I hope this activity and promotional work will encourage more residents to recycle their metal packaging. The energy saved by recycling just one can is enough to run a TV for four hours, so a small action like putting your empty bean tin in the recycling bin can make a big difference.”

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro), which runs the campaign, added: “The MetalMatters campaign has delivered significant increases in the volumes of metal packaging collected for recycling in other parts of the UK, so we’re aiming to repeat – and hopefully better this – in Luton.”