Resource Use

‘Leave Your Cap On’ comes to kerbside collections

North Lincolnshire Council has become the first local authority to implement the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation’s (Alupro) ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaign as part of its kerbside collection service.

The project, which first launched in July 2013 in association with British Glass and the European Aluminium Foil Association, seeks to encourage householders to recycle metal bottle caps and closures by screwing them back on their glass bottles before recycling them at bottle banks or recycling centres. The metal can then be recovered during the glass recycling process and recycled into new material.

According to Alupro, approximately 5,000 tonnes of aluminium from caps and closures could be recovered through recycling bottle closures, equating to over £2 million worth of aluminium (at current material prices).

Although six local authorities have introduced the communications campaign at recycling banks so far, North Lincolnshire Council has become the first authority to trial the message at the kerbside, calling on residents to screw metal bottle closures back onto glass bottles before putting them out for recycling.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro, said: “The market for aluminium bottle closures is growing rapidly, particularly for wine bottles, so it is important that the consumer gets in the habit of recycling them so that the aluminium can be captured for reprocessing.  

“There are now six local authorities running ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaigns on banks, and the launch of the first kerbside programme is exciting news. 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.”

Councillor Nigel Sherwood, cabinet member for Highways and Neighbourhoods at North Lincolnshire Council, added: “Modern recycling methods allow aluminium tops to be recovered easier when they are collected with glass. So we can now recycle and reuse aluminium over and over again, which is why this campaign is so important to raise peoples’ awareness.”

Sherwood added that the council hopes the campaign will ‘help boost recycling in North Lincolnshire’.

Rebecca Cocking, Head of Container Affairs at British Glass, added that the ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaign not only “informs and helps the consumer to recycle as much as possible”, but also “highlights the important role bring banks and kerbside recycling play in getting good-quality glass back into the system, helping saving energy and raw materials”.

Find out more about Alupro’s ‘Leave Your Cap On’ campaign.