Local businesses encouraged to recycle cans

Fifty new recycling boxes are being put in place across London and the south east to help businesses recycle more aluminium and steel cans.


On-the-go packaging is a notoriously difficult and expensive waste stream to collect, lagging behind the services offered by councils at the kerbside.

Every Can Counts has therefore teamed up with Greenaway Waste Management to promote out of home drinks can recycling.

The new collection points, provided by Every Can Counts, will be offered free of charge to Greenaway’s business customers, along with relevant marketing materials.

“We’re trying to make recycling as accessible as possible when out and about, and [this partnership] will go a long way in helping local businesses to recycle their cans,” said Rick Hindley, executive director at Aulpro, one of the partners in the Every Can Counts scheme.

Hindley said that the initiative is part of a growth strategy to work with more waste management companies. Greenaway said the partnership will help increase its metal capture rates.

An empty drinks can collected for recycling can be reprocessed and manufactured into a new product in just six weeks. There is also sufficient infrastructure in the UK to recycle every can bought.

Greenoaks Mercedes dealership in Slough is one of the first to join the scheme, with the cans added to its existing collection services. “It also presents a good image to our customers as it demonstrates that we are environmentally aware,” said a spokesman for the company.

Scotland is currently considering the merits of introducing a deposit return scheme to encourage more recycling on the go, similar to the ones run in Sweden and Denmark. However, the likes of Incpen – the Industry Council for research on Packaging and the Environment – say the scheme wouldn’t work.

edie staff

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