The South Wales-based recycler detailed how it has invested income generated by the sale of packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) in 2002 in its fourth annual PRN report.
The report, entitled Investing in Recycling said that Corus recycled nearly 50% more steel cans in 2002 than in the year 2000.
 Corus believes its 2002 PRN investments will mean an extra 125m cans will be recycled |
John May, manager at Corus Steel Packaging Recycling said: “Corus has taken a lead in providing steel packaging manufacturers and users with details of how PRN funds have been applied to help increase recycling. It is important that those with whom we share responsibility are informed how the PRN funds are used. Steel packaging has made excellent recycling progress, increasing from a 25% recycling rate in 1998 to 42% in 2002.”
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Mr May said that while the amount of investment Corus had made was commercially sensitive, the steel packaging sector had invested at least 1.5 million in 2002 in increasing the amount of steel cans being collected for recycling.
The Corus report reveals that 58% of the company's PRN investments went towards the provision of equipment, while 17% went to collection schemes, 16% to awareness campaigns, 6% to increased capacity and 3% to market development. The company provided assistance to 33 projects across the UK “to the benefit of 41 local authorities and over 1 million householders”.
Beneficiaries of Corus PRN funds have included Action Recycle in Glasgow, the largest community recycling group in Scotland; Doncaster Community Recycling, for the part-funding of a materials recycling facility; Newport Wastesavers in South Wales and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames among many others.
Corus has taken a regionally targeted approach for its investments, directed through its recycling development team, to concentrate funds where financial support would not otherwise be available, or where potential exists to expand steel recovery.
The report stressed the need to concentrate PRN funds on increasing collection infrastructure. It said: “The need to increase the collection infrastructure further requires that PRN funds remain focussed on this task. In particular, the further establishment of multi-material household collection schemes is a priority, and there will be further opportunities to introduce magnetic extraction schemes to collect steel directly from the household waste stream.”
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