Recycling Campaign urges Ayrshire to make its metal matter

East, North and South Ayrshire Councils have joined forces to call on residents to make their metals matter and boost household recycling of metal packaging across Ayrshire in south-west Scotland. The campaign aims to make everyone think more about the waste metal in their everyday drinks cans, food tins and aluminium food trays – the sort of household waste that easily gets taken for granted and put in the bin.

Every year, more than 173m items of metal packaging are thrown away by Ayrshire households – that’s almost 20,000 drinks cans, food tins and aerosols getting binned every single hour of the day. That’s equivalent to the same weight as 14 double-decker buses every year.

East, North and South Ayrshire Councils are now taking part in the campaign, supported by the metal packaging industry, to dramatically increase the amount of metal the 172,000 households in the area recycle.

Making your metal matter helps the environment by removing metal waste going to landfill and because the recycled metal can be used over and over again, it makes metal can, tin and tray manufacturing processes more environmentally friendly.

Councillor Eoghann MacColl, East Ayrshire Council said, “This superb campaign has already run in over 50 councils across the UK and results show it works, with a significant and lasting increase in the amount of metal packaging collected.” In addition, every single recycled can, tin or metal food tray generates revenue for the local authorities – money which can be reinvested back into the community.

Councillor John McDowall, Portfolio Carrier for Sustainability and the Environment for South Ayrshire Council added: “Our residents currently recycle around half of their waste, which is a great achievement, but we know we can do even more – and making metals ‘matter’ will play a big part in that. The new campaign will help inform people about what happens to their metal packaging once it’s been collected. For example, the average household uses 380 drinks cans a year, every one of which can be recycled and back on sale in just 60 days – so we can all make a real difference.”

MetalMatters is the largest industry-funded recycling campaign in the United Kingdom and has been commended by Scottish and UK Governments for its contribution to driving up and sustaining metal capture rates.