Make your metals matter!

When it comes to recycling, metal is hard to beat! That’s because it’s endlessly recyclable – every last bit can be turned into something else and it’s a cycle that can go on forever.  

Every time metal is recycled it saves energy, cuts greenhouse gas emissions and prevents it from becoming rubbish – so it’s good news for the planet.  

The metal packaging items you recycle at home could end up being transformed into any one of a wide number of new products, from a designer watch or a smartphone, to a washing machine or even a new bus!  

Most of us are familiar with recycling empty food and drinks cans, but what other metal packaging can be recycled at home? 

At home we can recycle… 

• Drink cans 

• Food tins  

• Pet food tins 

• Empty aerosols (from the kitchen and the bathroom) 

• Kitchen foil 

• Foil trays 

• Sweet / biscuit tins 

Please remember to make sure all packaging is empty, clean and dry before recycling. 

Whilst all steel and aluminium can be recycled, not all can be collected at the kerbside.  You can take electrical items, like irons, or bulky items like bicycles and pans to your local Recycling and Household Waste Site.

Once your recycling is collected from your home, this metal goes on to be transformed into something new… 

When this packaging is collected from your house, the cans, foil and empty aerosols you save are taken to Casepak’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) or, if you live in North West Leicestershire, to the district council’s own MRF.

Metal packaging is made of either aluminium or steel. At the MRF the latest technology is used to separate the different metals before they are baled and sent for reprocessing. The process involves melting the metal; it is then cast into ingots which are sent on for manufacturing. The recycled metal is then used to produce all sorts of everyday items like cameras, irons and kettles as well as more food tins and cans. 

Can you believe, an empty can you recycle today could be back on the supermarket shelf as another can in as little as 60 days!  

Best of all, recycling metal is a small action that can make a big difference! For example, by recycling one aluminium drinks can, you could save enough energy to power a TV for 4 hours! All you need to do is make sure the metal packaging is clean and dry and put it in the recycling – not the rubbish!