Recycle more metal!

Lewisham Council is trying to get residents to recycle more metal. They say:

A new campaign has been launched to urge Lewisham residents to make their ‘metals matter’ by encouraging them to recycle more of the estimated 80 million cans, aerosols aluminium foil trays and the wrapping foil used in Lewisham homes every year.

Used metal packaging can be recycled endlessly into valuable new products saving energy and CO2 emissions compared to making them from raw materials. 

To mark the launch of the campaign, on Friday 14 March Lewisham Council held a recycling roadshow at Lewisham Shopping Centre, where Cllr Susan Wise, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, met children from local school, Myatt Garden. The children, under the guidance of art teacher, Karen Vost, were creating a magnetic sculpture from the assortment of cans, aerosols and tins recycled by residents. 

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. 

And if all the metal packaging used in Lewisham each year was collected for recycling it would save around 4260 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking 835 cars off local streets. Aiming to spread this message throughout the borough, the communications campaign will reach more than 168,000 households with leaflets sent to every home.