Alupro reports 83% of councils now collect aerosols

The body revealed that its Aerofoil campaign also contributed to an increase in the percentage of councils collecting foil at the kerbside up from 58% two years ago to 72% now.

Alupro said, in total, 98 local authorities covering 5.8 million households have expanded their collection systems to include foil, aerosols or both material as a direct result of the Aerofoil scheme.

The two-year initiative was launched in September 2009 and was funded by foil converter member companies, Nicholl Food Packaging, i2r Packaging Solutions and Coppice Alupack. Additional funding was provided by the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association, Unilever, Tata Steel and foil converter Jena (see letsrecycle.com story).

According to Alupro, one of the major achievements of the Aerofoil programme was to expand the kerbside collection infrastructure for aluminium foil trays, enabling it to qualify for the Widely Recycled at Recycling Points labelling under the British Retail Consortiums On-Pack Recycling Label scheme.

To qualify, 65% of local authorities must collect the material with kerbside or bring systems (minimum five collection banks per local authority). The criteria will increase to 70% in 2012 and 75% in 2013 targets which, thanks to Aerofoil, the sector is already well on the way to achieving.

As well as encouraging local authorities and waste collection partners to expand their collections, the Aerofoil programme provided an extensive communication resource to help local authorities inform residents about new services and explain the benefits and importance of recycling both materials. These included advertisement templates, press materials and an online image library.

Alupro executive director Rick Hindley, said: We set out to help 80 local authorities add aerosols and foil to their services. In fact 98 authorities have now changed their kerbside programme to include either, or both material as a result of this programme. Our communications materials have been downloaded by over 140 different users.

We see it as a great success and an excellent example of how partners within the industry can facilitate extended producer responsibility, supporting the public sector to make a real difference.

Awareness

Research carried out by GfK NOP (National Opinion Polls) at the start and end of the Aerofoil programme shows that awareness of the recyclability of foil and aerosols is rising, with 53% of respondents knowing that aerosols are recyclable (compared to 45% in 2009), and 75% knowing that foil trays are recyclable (compared to 70% in 2009).

In areas currently not served by a kerbside service for either material there was a strong willingness to be able to recycle both 89% for aerosols and 90% for foil. However Alupro believes the results show that much work remains to be done to keep reminding householders about what they can recycle, and why.

Mr Hindley added: It is vital that local authorities continue to communicate with households and promote their recycling services, and the Aerofoil model shows that offering template materials provides a cost-effective way of running communications programmes when budgets are tight.

Regular, clear communication is essential to remind and reinforce awareness. This will not only increase participation and capture rates, but will bring about long-term behaviour change. This is an area that the metal packaging industry is already actively engaged in, and will continue to focus on in future activities.