Isle residents urged to make their metals matter


A new campaign has been launched to urge people living in North Lincolnshire to make their ‘metals matter’ by encouraging them to recycle more of the estimated 88 million cans, aerosols aluminium foil trays and the wrapping foil they use in their homes every year.

​The campaign will reach more than 74,000 households and includes leaflets which will be sent to every home, online advertising, social media posts and displays in public buildings which will carry the ‘make your metals matter’ message. ​

Used metal packaging can be recycled endlessly into new products at a far lower cost to industry, and the environment, than making them from raw materials.

Research** has shown that people aren’t always aware that their used metal packaging will be transformed into new valuable everyday items when collected for recycling. The new campaign aims to help people understand what can be recycled and explain what happens to the metals collected.

The metal packaging manufacturing industry, recyclers and fillers have teamed up with North Lincolnshire Council to launch the ‘make your metals matter’ recycling campaign in the area, to raise awareness of the importance of metal packaging recycling and to increase the amount collected from households.

If all the metal packaging used in North Lincolnshire each year was collected for recycling it would save around 2,377 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking over 500 cars off local streets for a year.

Councillor Neil Poole, cabinet member for Neighbourhoods at North Lincolnshire Council, said: “We’re calling on local residents to make their metals matter and help increase the areas recycling performance. We are committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and we hope the campaign will encourage our residents to recycle more of the metal packaging they use every day. Every can recycled saves enough energy to run a TV for four hours, so a small action like putting your empty bean tin in the recycling bag, box or bin can make a big difference.”

Sue Daynes, Waste Management Officer added, “Remember the following metal items can be placed in your green recycling box, drink cans, food tins, pet food tins, foil and foil trays, empty aerosols, metal lids from jars and bottles and sweet and biscuit tins. If you need an extra recycling box, we are happy to supply one, just visit”

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of project managers Alupro, said: “It is great to be able to work in partnership with North Lincolnshire Council to promote the recycling of metal packaging in the district. The MetalMatters programme has delivered significant increases in the volumes of metal packaging collected for recycling in other parts of the UK, so we’re aiming to repeat – and hopefully better this – in North Lincolnshire.”

The campaign is being jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging, and Suez, the waste management company working with North Lincolnshire Council. MetalMatters is run by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.