Trees campaign

Grow fruit trees in Malawi by recycling in the UK

The campaign that has proved itself …

Since Alupro started tree planting incentive campaigns in 2003, the amount of aluminium drinks cans and foil recycled each year has grown by 47 per cent, from 31,831 tonnes in 2003 to 46,719 tonnes in 2006. As a result of two separate campaigns, more than 100,000 trees have already been grown in the UK and in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

This new campaign builds on what we have learnt,
and is the most ambitious yet. The programme encourages all recycling, and is the perfect focus
for building environmental action across the UK.

And with 95% energy and emissions savings every
time aluminium is made from the simple remelt process of recycling - rather than from the raw material,
bauxite - it should become second nature for everyone
to save aluminium for recycling.

New partner – new approach

Alupro’s new programme, starting July 1 2007, retains the focus on tackling deforestation in Africa while - this time - providing the means and know-how to develop small businesses in rural communities in Malawi.

Did you know ?

Recycling aluminium takes only 5% of the energy needed to make it from the raw material, bauxite.

We are working with Ripple Africa, a small UK charity that knows the area it works in well, and understands how best to help local people help themselves at a time of massive global change.

As before, we shall ensure that a tree will be grown for every tonne of aluminium cans and foil recycled in the UK – but this time it will be a fruit tree, which will provide good food as well as the basis for fruit drying and juicing enterprises, adding value to the crop as the trees mature.

Alupro is providing guaranteed core funding support over two years, but the ultimate scope of the programme depends on UK recyclers - the more aluminium cans and foil are given for recycling, the more trees will be grown.

We are establishing a special nursery at Ripple Africa’s base at Mwaya on the shores of Lake Malawi, which will produce improved fruit trees such as orange and mango, through grafting and budding on to local lemon rootstock under controlled greenhouse conditions. This nursery will become the research and training centre, testing different fruit varieties for local climate performance, and training people from outlying communities in the grafting and budding techniques.
At the same time, species such as guava and pawpaw, which provide good produce from seed-grown trees, have been added to Ripple Africa’s existing 135 community nurseries, producing the first saplings for planting out in January 2008.

The ambition

There will be lessons to be learnt as the project progresses, and the monitoring programme will be based around identifying and solving problems as they arise, with the aim of developing a model which can be used elsewhere.

With the help of UK recyclers, we are planning to establish more than 85,000 fruit trees over the first two-year period of Alupro support, as well as providing 15 jobs, and training programmes for around 25 volunteers at each of the 75 village nurseries - relationships which should form the basis for establishing sustainable trading businesses.

You can help !

There are many people and organisations in a position to really make a difference to the success of the project - and the livelihoods of people in Malawi. Not just by recycling their aluminium at home, but through organising or supporting collections in the workplace, or at school or university. Remember, the more aluminium is recycled in the UK, the more fruit trees will be grown.

To see the impact of our previous tree planting campaign on people in rural communities in Burkina Faso, West Africa, take a look at the diaries of two visitors to the project, Carol Arthur of Torbay Council and Susan Gibbons of West Sussex. As the two local authority officers who were assessed to have done most to promote the campaign in their local areas, Carol and Susan were invited to judge for themselves what was being achieved.

Counting the results

The Fruit trees for Malawi programme applies to every tonne of aluminium packaging collected for recycling in the UK, as recorded by reprocessors and exporters accredited by the Environment Agency, and published by Government every quarter.

On top of the core funding Alupro is providing to Ripple Africa to get the programme established, there is a tree-per-tonne element, so that the more tonnes are recycled, the more trees will be grown. Local authorities which join the campaign, and supply Alupro with their collected tonnage figures, will have the equivalent number of trees grown in their name in Malawi, and are encouraged to help promote the campaign in their area.

The campaign period is July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009.

Ripple Africa

British charity Ripple Africa is already working with 135 village communities, in an area of Malawi about the size of Kent, on an ambitious environmental programme to build sustainability into woodland management.

The programme includes growing many thousands of trees, encouraging coppicing from managed woodlots rather than cutting down whole trees for firewood, and the use of clay stoves for cooking rather than open fires - which means that families need only around 40 trees a year, rather than 120.

De-forestation is a major problem in the area, as it not only removes the benefit of the trees themselves, but degrades the soil’s fertility as topsoil is washed away in the heavy downpours of the rainy season - rains which can make the general landscape look greener and more sustainable than it really is. As the soil degrades, crops fail, and more trees are cleared to grow crops for food.

Alupro’s investment is providing an exciting new dimension to this programme which, it is hoped, will help create a sustainable future for people in the area, and also provide the basis of a model which can be used elsewhere.

www.rippleafrica.org