Recycling Around the Home – new video explains why you can leave your cap on

Recycle Week 2015 (22-28 June) encourages householders to “Recycle more stuff, more of the time, all around the house”, and the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) is lending its support by focusing on caps and closures with the campaign ‘Leave Your Cap On’.

Screw caps on bottles of olive oil, wine and spirits are made from aluminium, which is endlessly recyclable. It’s valuable too, with Alupro’s research suggesting that around 5,000 tonnes of aluminium caps are available for recycling each year – worth £2 million at current material prices.

The ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaign, in partnership with the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) and British Glass, encourages recyclers to simply screw the caps back on their empty bottles, as the metal can be easily extracted from the glass during the recycling process.

Alupro has produced signage for bottle banks and kerbside boxes, as well as a range of template materials for local authorities to adapt including a press release, social media posts and web copy, reminding residents to leave their cap on. To date 12 local authorities have used the materials on over 5,800 bottle banks and kerbside boxes.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro said: “The message to the public is simple; screwing the top back on the empty bottle before recycling is the easiest way for people to do their bit to recycle this valuable material.”

Alupro has also produced an animated video to explain to consumers why it’s important to “Put the top back on before you recycle your glass bottles”. This is available on YouTube for local authorities to use as part of their recycling communications www.youtube.com/user/AluproUK/videos

Rick added: “The ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaign complements the work we are doing to promote wider metal packaging recycling through the industry partnerships we manage, in particular the ‘MetalMatters’ programme. Supporting and working with local authorities and their waste management partners is a proven approach to really make a positive difference to aluminium recycling rates.”

To date, 53 Councils have taken advantage of the MetalMatters programme. Reaching 3 million residents in the past 3 years, MetalMatters is an integrated marketing campaign that motivates people to recycle more. Part-funded by industry partners, it’s a proven and affordable way for Councils to boost recycling.

Recycle Week 2015 takes place from the 22-28 June, with events around the country to promote recycling http://www.recyclenow.com/event/recycle-week-2015-0

If you would like to run a MetalMatters campaign in your local authority please visit www.metalmatters.org.uk, call 01527 597757 or email metalmatters@alupro.org.uk

About Alupro

The Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) represents the leading aluminium packaging producers, reprocessors, converters, fillers and brand owners in the UK on issues relating to the recycling of aluminium packaging.

Current programmes include Every Can Counts (www.everycancounts.co.uk), MetalMatters (www.metalmatters.org.uk) and the Caps & Closures campaign, ‘Leave your cap on’.

www.alupro.org.uk