pressrelease

Contact: Ruth Meeke
Tel: 01527 597757

April 19th, 2007

GREAT RECYCLING EFFORTS REAP REWARDS

The great response from residents in Bristol to an appeal for them to recycle all their aluminium cans and foil, means that 368 native trees has been planted locally.

This achievement was made possible when Bristol City Council registered to be part of a nation-wide recycling appeal 'Trees for Africa and the UK, organised by not-for-profit organisation Alupro [Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation], which encouraged residents to recycle their aluminium through their kerbside collections and local bring sites.

One tree has been awarded for every tonne of aluminium recycled over an 18 month period, which has meant that trees such as English oak, Scots pine and silver birch will be planted in parks, gardens or woodlands in Bristol and across the UK.

A tree planting ceremony took place at Wansdyke Primary School in Whitchurch as a thank you to residents for taking part in the Trees for UK and Africa campaign.

Liz Kirkland, Service Development and Planning Officer for Waste Services at Bristol City Council commented, " This is a great achievement and of huge benefit to our local environment thanks to our resident's recycling efforts. I hope that we all continue to recycle and I encourage everybody to get into the recycling habit".

The initiative has proved a big success, boosting aluminium recycling performance by a massive 32% to 65,818 tonnes. These results mean that 10,729 trees will be grown in the UK, and 55,089 donated to Africa.

The Africa programme based in the Gabio Forest, Burkina Faso, West Africa will grow trees such as mango, cashew, baobob. The chosen trees will supply food and be used for medicinal uses, and because the flowers encourage the production of honey, which is sold in local markets, will also generate much-needed income to the village communities.

Recycling aluminium cans and foil saves 95% of the energy it takes to make it from the raw material and with cans often back on the shelves in just six weeks, the energy savings quickly grow.

All the trees have been donated by Alupro members, Sims Metal www.sims-group.com. For further information about the campaign please contact Alupro on 0845 7227722 or go to the website www.alupro.org.uk.

ENDSENDS