Homepage news list | News and communications

News and communications

Making your Metal Matter in Portsmouth

Last updated: 19 July 2012 11:31

Portsmouth City Council is launching a high profile recycling campaign this month to encourage residents to recycle more cans, tins and aerosols.

Guildhall Square is hosting an event to make people aware of the 'MetalMatters' campaign. The event will be held on Friday 20 July 2012, from between 12pm and 2pm and will provide more information on the campaign.

The campaign calls on local residents to ‘make your metals matter’ and has been developed as part of Recycle for Hampshire. It is co-funded by the MetalMatters programme, a partnership made up of the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging, which aims to increase the capture of recyclable metals from household recycling bins. The focus is on increasing the metal packaging recycled from kerbside collection – tins, bottle tops, cans and aerosols.

Metal packaging is usually made of either aluminium or steel. At the materials recycling facility the latest technology is used to separate the different metals before they are baled and sent for reprocessing. Reprocessing involves melting the metal, it is then cast into ingot which can be used to produce all sorts of everyday items like cameras, irons and kettles as well as more food tins and cans.

Metal can be recycled endlessly and the recycling process uses up to 20 times less energy than creating a brand new item.
The campaign to encourage more people to recycle their used metal containers includes direct leaflet distribution to all of Portsmouth’s 90,000 households, as well as messages on buses and waste collection vehicles.

Councillor Eleanor Scott, Cabinet Member for Environment at Portsmouth City Council, said: "It is fantastic that we are promoting recycling metal by raising awareness and encouraging residents to recycle waste."

“I am proud to be involved in the campaign and together we can make a difference.”

More information is available at: www.portsmouth.gov.uk/waste

The campaign was developed and is funded by the metal packaging manufacturing industry, reprocessors and fillers. The programme works in partnership with local authorities and their waste collection partners to promote metal packaging recycling, and thereby improve capture rates for metal packaging at the kerbside. MetalMatters is being managed on behalf of the funding partners by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).