Aerofoil hails groundbreaking Leeds launch

_{^{By Nick Mann}} 

Leeds city council has become one of the biggest local authorities to introduce kerbside collections of aerosols for recycling with the support of the industry-funded ‘Aerofoil' campaign, which promotes the collection of aerosols and foil trays.

The local authority launched the initiative last week (June 21) with a promotional campaign which involves collection vehicles being branded with advertisements using the online communications materials offered by Aerofoil, which is run by aluminium packaging recycling body Alupro, with support from the likes of Corus and Unilever.

Commenting on the new service, Leeds city council's executive member for environmental services, councillor Tom Murray, said: “This is an excellent addition to the range of items Leeds residents can now put in their green bins or bags.

“It is cost-effective as the aerosols can be sent for recycling alongside food and drinks cans for no extra charge to the council.”

He added that, as well as well as reducing the city's carbon footprint due to the reuse of the aluminium and steel used in aerosols, the initiative would also help Leeds to move towards its target of achieving a 50% recycling rate by 2020.

Campaign

The Aerofoil campaign was launched in September 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story), with the aim of encouraging councils to begin collecting foil and/or aerosols at the kerbside if they did not currently offer the service for one or both of the materials.

Last month, as the campaign launched a new range of free-to-use for local authorities to use to promote both new and existing collections of the materials, the team behind the initiative hailed the early levels of take-up from the councils it had targeted (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, the significance of Leeds city council adding its name to those on board was highlighted by Matt Close, vice president of marketing for Unilever, who said: “We are delighted to be working with Alupro and Leeds city council on this groundbreaking initiative.

“Recycling empty deodorant cans is just one small action which households can take to help the environment. This project makes it easier than ever before for households in Leeds to take a small action to make a big difference,” he added.

Alongside aerosols, Leeds' householders are also able to recycle paper, card, cans and mixed plastics at the kerbside using their green wheeled bins.