Calling all Student Scorsese Wannabes

The Can Makers have launched a nationwide search for the best video dispelling the myths around recycling drinks cans.  “Myth Busting – what happens to your drinks can when it’s recycled”,  jointly sponsored by the British Film Institute asks students to enter short videos exploring the myths of drinks can recycling, particularly what happens to our recycling, which is often misunderstood.  Entrants will have a chance to win £1,500 and be recognised nationally as a leading student filmmaker.

The celebrated British actor Danny Dyer leads a host of celebrities and experts from the environment, sustainability and film making industries who will be judging the entries.  The full list includes Danny Dyer, Actor; Craig Stevens, Sky Movies Presenter; Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent Film Critic; Jamie Crawford, Presenter and Environmental Filmmaker; Jennifer Granville, Director of Northern Film School, Leeds Metropolitan University; Dr Colin Church, DEFRA; and Noel Goodwin, BFI Education Programmer for Young People.

Entrants will need to submit a video, no more than two minutes in length, which busts some of the popular drinks can recycling myths.  Whether it’s an animation, a funny stunt or a short documentary, the winning student will be rewarded the top prize of £1,500.  The winner of each of the five sub-categories will win £500.

The closing date for entries is Thursday 28^th February 2013.
Full terms and conditions and information on how to enter are available on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CanMakersVideo.

How V Festival is making Every Can Count

Music festivals see lots of cans consumed, brought in by campers and sold onsite, making them the perfect fit for Every Can Counts, the programme that’s getting people recycling at work and on the go. As Festival organisers are keen to reduce their environmental footprint and raise the profile of the event’s green credentials, Every Can Counts provides a platform for this.

This video shows Every Can Counts at work at V Festival in Telford. The programme joined forces with contractors Ryans Event Cleaning and Panda Waste to collect, sort and process the cans onsite. Ryans and Panda set up can recycling points across the site. Every Can Counts were responsible for communicating the recycling message, providing highly visible and interactive promotions during the event to encourage festival-goers to do the right thing with their empty cans. Cans recovered in the waste stream were sorted onsite, with equipment provided by Novelis Recycling.

Around 130,000 cans, which equates to over two tonnes of aluminium and steel, were collected at V. A great achievement considering every can is infinitely recyclable without loss of quality and each can recycled substantially reduces the environmental footprint of the next one made.

Click here to watch the video: www.youtube.com/everycancounts

What stops us from recycling and how can we make it better?

 The industry knows that recycling is important and, with facilities available to recover and process all the beverage cans used in the UK, what’s stopping everyone from actually doing it?

There has been plenty of research on the subject, not just commissioned by the industry. Whilst some may think the reason why people don’t recycle enough is because they don’t feel it’s important, in fact the opposite is true. People do feel that recycling is important but there are a plethora of reasons why they don’t do it.

From the home, the majority of councils collect recycling which is in designated boxes or bags. One of the major barriers to recycling from the home is that people aren’t convinced that what they put out for recycling is actually recycled. Another is that people don’t really understand what can be recycled and some don’t feel that they make a difference.

Outside of the home there are, again, many reasons why people don’t recycle. On the go recycling facilities can be difficult to come across and symbols are often complicated and difficult to understand. This is improving as more organisations, from shopping centres to high streets, become aware of the importance of accessible recycling facilities. Within the workplace, recycling facilities are often lacking and messaging is not always clear.

There are various initiatives around for businesses to achieve recycling targets. Organisations are sometimes unsure of where to start, where to go for advice, how easy it can be to implement. If they already have some form of recycling, may not realise that it’s incredibly easy to build upon. There is also an abundance of free material available online, and programmes that are free to join which will offer advice. It is vital that businesses have a good recycling programme in place, not just to achieve their recycling goals but also as a way to spread the recycling message to a wider audience. After all, if recycling messages in the workplace are simple and effective, these will the recycling habit will spread into the home and have an even wider impact.

To start beverage can recycling in the workplace click here  

 

Cans: the myths exploded (part 1)

The beverage can is the most recyclable form of drinks packaging in the world. In this blog post we will address common can misconceptions and set the record straight.

Some Say: The recycling of a can does not have much of an effect on the environment.

The Truth: Every recycled can counts … and helps save the environment! Saving drinks cans for recycling means that they don’t end up at landfill sites. As every single part of every can collected can be recycled, it also means that there is no waste. Around nine tonnes of CO2 are saved for every tonne of aluminium recycled. Metal can be endlessly recycled, meaning that environmental savings stack up. In fact, every can recycled cuts the carbon footprint of the next can.

Some Say: The production of metal is energy intensive – even more so than other options. That’s why cans are a less preferable drinks package.

The Truth: Yes, producing metal from raw materials does use a lot of energy which is why recycling is so important. Can recycling saves as much as 95 per cent of the energy required to produce virgin materials. Continual lightweighting also means that it is now possible to make 60 cans (holding 30 litres of beverages) with only 1kg of aluminium. A BCME study found that beverage cans produce around 45 percent fewer emissions across the supply chain than other options.

A Closer Look at the Beverage Market

The Nielsen Company watches the consumer retail market very closely, so we have invited them to share their latest insights on the beverage market.  Our guest blogger is Kate Spencer, Client Team Leader, The Nielsen Company

The statistics are out and the news is hardly surprising—growing chaos, longer hours and more stressful lifestyles are meaning consumers are looking for convenience wherever they can find it.  This blog post will focus on the beverage market and the growth its statistics have seen in the past year.

In the year to 30^th April, Carbonated Soft Drinks unit growth has been at 9%.  Specifically, cans remain the dominant pack type within the category, having 56% share and growing at just over 13%.

Although 266-383ml Cans have the highest unit sales, larger Cans of 384-620ml are seeing the strongest growth at 32% due to the success of larger can sizes within the Energy Drinks category sector. The Grocery Multiples continue to sell the majority of Carbonated Soft Drinks, with Cans outgrowing PET in this channel. Multipacks account for the majority of unit sales here, particularly 6 to 9 packs. However, single Cans have made a revival over the last year, increasing unit share to 12% of all Canned sales.  Energy Drinks have driven the increase in unit share of single cans, as much of the NPD in this sector is only launched in singles.

The Beer & Cider market has increased unit sales by just 2% in the year to 16^th April. Cans continue to be the favoured pack type over glass bottles, with over 60% unit share.  Canned Lager is the dominant sector of this category, accounting for almost half of all units sold. Whilst 4 pack Cans are the biggest pack type in Lager, 12/15 pack glass bottles have doubled in size over the last year & are now the 2^nd largest in unit terms.

As I said earlier, consumers are looking for convenience in beverages.  The can is a great place for them to find it.  It has been a strong year for the can and it seems likely that this strength will continue into the future.

‘i luv my can’ campaign launches

http://www.iluvmycan.co.uk/

The beverage can is often the unsung hero in the consumers’ hands.  We all love cold, refreshing drinks whenever we want them, the fact that cans are perfect on the move and easy to recycle which is why they are the most recycled drinks pack in the world.  But how does the industry get consumers to recognise this more strongly?

i luv my can is a brand new campaign which aims to get these messages across by inviting the public to submit creations made from empty beverage cans to the website www.iluvmycan.co.uk.  There are 10 categories to enter appealing to every talent from ‘best can trick’, through ‘anything goes’ to ‘most artistic’.  TV presenter, Miquita Oliver launched the campaign on Thursday 9^th June and there are plans to promote the competition throughout the summer.  The best creations will be auctioned to raise money for the Art Fund, the UK’s leading charity that helps secure great art for museums and galleries for everyone to enjoy.

For more information visit www.iluvmycan.co.uk

Read about i luv my can in Packaging Europe and Packaging News

 

 

 

 

 

 

27 million drinks cans recycled by Every Can Counts in workplaces

Every Can Counts, the away from home drinks can recycling programme funded by the leading European and UK drinks can manufacturers and aluminium and steel packaging reprocessors, has had a very successful second year.   It helped businesses to collect 27 million used aluminium and steel beverage cans for recycling across the UK in 2010. The figure is equivalent to each employee at organisations registered with the programme recycling four cans per month.¹

Every Can Counts calculates that by enabling over 394 tonnes of drinks cans to be recycled last year over 4000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided.

Every Can Counts provides businesses with a branded recycling programme enabling them to launch and promote drinks can recycling. Over the past two years the programme has been embraced by over 400 organisations keen to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and encourage their staff and customers to recycle more.

Organisations using the programme range across the public and private sector and from SMEs to FTSE-listed companies.  All are using Every Can Counts to help them achieve corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability objectives, including zero waste to landfill targets. Two years after its launch there are over 4000-branded collection points around the UK in offices, shopping centres, universities and tourist attractions.  Results from participating organisations show that although the programme specifically targets drinks cans, volumes of other recyclables also increase as a result of using the range of Every Can Counts-branded resources.

1. The data above has been calculated and verified using methodology endorsed by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

For more information visit www.everycancounts.co.uk/about. You can also follow on Facebook and Twitter or watch videos on their YouTube channel.

Victoria Milne blogs about the UK soft drinks market staying buoyant in 2009 despite recession

Guest Blogger: Victoria Milne, Senior Market Analyst, Zenith International Ltd.

2009 has not been an easy year for the UK soft drinks industry. The country’s economy continued to be deeply impacted by recession, the worst for decades, while the ‘barbeque summer’, originally forecasted by the Met Office, failed to deliver a meteoric surge of sales. Yet, despite these challenges, soft drinks market in the UK showed growth in both volume and value terms in 2009. According to the British Soft Drinks Association industry report produced by food and drink consultancy, Zenith International, UK soft drinks market registered an impressive 1.7% growth in volume and 2.2% gain in value in 2009 to stand at 14,140 million litres and £13,224 million respectively.

Perhaps the most impressive statistics, however, came from Carbonates – the biggest category, accounting for 43% of all UK soft drinks. They outperformed the market in both volume and value terms, providing the consumers with an affordable and tasty treat in tough times.

As value became increasingly important to the nation, private label offerings fared better than brands in all sectors of the industry. However, both branded and private label soft drinks consumption should be set to continue growth in future, as the economic conditions improve and the industry is boosted with incoming tourism during 2012 Olympics. Presuming average weather conditions in the intervening years to 2014, Zenith International forecasts the market to reach close to 15,000 million litres, with per person consumption hitting 235 litres.

A rubbish Christmas?

Happy New Year to everyone! Now we’re all back at work, Christmas is beginning to turn into a distant memory. So what are some of our memories from this hugely anticipated festive event? Opening cards, unwrapping presents, eating and drinking copious amounts perhaps…

As fun as this can be, from an environmental and sustainable perspective, Christmas can create an awful lot of unnecessary waste if you think about all the empty drinks cans, food packaging and wrapping paper alone. That said, I think the majority of us are getting significantly better on the recycling front. The environment and sustainability is certainly moving back up people’s agendas after the end of a year that saw much debate around the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, a heated debate around the landfill ban issue and the government’s packaging strategy.

From my own experience, my family, friends and neighbours were all definitely making far more of a concerted  effort to recycle all the waste. On a wider scale, people have even got impressively creative in their recycling – for example, one environmentally-conscious guy created the ultimate eco-friendly Christmas tree purely out of fizzy drink cans. His fabulous ‘fir’ has now proved so popular, he has quite the following on Facebook and MySpace. A little closer to home, one family has put us all to shame by putting just one rubbish bin out for collection in the whole of 2009! Very impressive when you consider the uproar that went on when councils tried to make some collections bi-weekly. This families’ achievements pay testament to what can be achieved through due diligence, passion and persistency as well as a genuine concern for the planet.

The only disappointment that I witnessed this holiday – and have subsequently read about in the nationals – was the lack of support from some of our councils when it came to taking away our hard-sorted, festive recycling. I noticed that my grandparent’s local council was throwing all the contents of both rubbish and recycling into the same lorry. Somewhat frustrating and de-motivating to those others who noticed the same thing.

If we’re going to seriously make a difference to the climate then we all need to buy-into making our lifestyles more sustainable and green with no exception. Hopefully this was a one-off blip that won’t happen again in this new, refreshingly green decade.