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Orkney households urged to Make Metals Matter

Households in Orkney will now be able to recycle aerosols, kitchen foil and foil tray products, as part of the fortnightly green bin collections.

The news comes as Orkney Islands Council (OIC) marks national Recycle Week, which runs from September 25 until October 1, with the launch of a county-wide Metal Matters campaign.

Orkney Islands Council has teamed up with the metal packaging manufacturing and recycling industry to launch the promotional campaign, which will reach all 11,312 households across the area.

The campaign will be launched at a roadshow event at the Pickaquoy Centre from 10.00am this coming Monday, where local folk can come along and find out more about the campaign.

The aim of the initiative is to remind residents to recycle all of the metal packaging found around their home. Items that can be recycled both in green kerbside bins and at communal collection points include:

  • Food and drink cans
  • Foil trays
  • Kitchen foil
  • Empty aerosols
  • Metal jar and bottle tops
  • Biscuit tins

According to the council, if all of the metal packaging used in Orkney’s homes each year was collected for recycling it would save around 324 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking nearly 70 cars off local roads for a year.

Darren Richardson is the Council’s Head of Infrastructure and Strategic Projects. He said: “Orkney residents are already committed to recycling and reducing waste which is great news. We want to encourage our residents to think about metal packaging found throughout their home, not just in the kitchen but in the bathroom, and bedroom.

“Food and drink cans, foil and empty aerosols are all easily and endlessly recyclable. Don’t forget every can recycled saves enough energy to run a TV for four hours — so a small action like putting your empty bean tin into your green recycling bin or your local communal recycling bank can make a big difference”

MetalMatters campaigns have run in 81 local authority areas and reached over 5 million households since 2012. The Orkney campaign is being jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging and Orkney Islands Council. The MetalMatters programme is managed by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.