According to the company's latest figures from the company, the number of steal cans recovered through the Corus' CanRoute system is up 59% on the first five months of 2004.
CanRoute is a network of regional centres set up to help local authorities return their collected cans to Corus for recycling. The 13 CanRoute centres are operated by leading steel processing companies who store and bale the cans before delivering them to Corus in the correct form for recycling.
The figures also showed that around 350 million cans have been recovered so far this year through CanRoute, the company recovered around 220 million cans during the first five months of 2004.
PRNs
Corus has said that it believes part of the reason why it has managed to increase its recovery rate this year is because of the reinvestment of packaging recovery note revenue in the UK. John May, manager of Corus steel packaging recycling, said that the investment in regional steel recycling schemes helped develop the UK's steel recycling infrastructure.
Commenting on the recent results, Mr May said: “These figures demonstrate a tremendous growth rate, reflecting the real growth in steel can recycling achieved as a result of kerbside systems being established across the UK.
“CanRoute is just one area of steel packaging recycling, complementing magnetic extraction directly from household waste, and it is growing rapidly. We estimate that existing plans to take kerbside systems that include steel cans to two thirds of UK households. However we also need to encourage householders to participate in these systems to a greater extent if we are to increase recycling rates further,” he added.
Steel PRN prices have been high this year because of a perceived shortage of steel packaging waste recycling. However, much of this been the result of a slow-down in steel packaging waste exports because of a recent fall in the world price of scrap metal.
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