More than 91 million cans, foil trays and aerosols are used every year in Huntingdonshire and the district council has launched a new campaign to make sure these make it into blue recycling bins.

Huntingdonshire District Council has teamed up with the metal packaging manufacturing industry to launch the ‘Make your metals matter’ campaign, which, it is hoped, will reach all 76,000 households across the district.

The campaign will see leaflets sent to every home, and will be supported with a social media campaign. Residents will also notice a number of the council’s recycling collection vehicles will also sport smart MetalMatters liveries.

The aim of the campaign is to remind residents to recycle all metal packaging found around their home, including; drink cans, food tins (including pet food), foil trays, empty aerosols, metal screw tops and foil wrap.

Used metal packaging can be recycled into new products at a far lower cost to the environment than making them from raw materials.

Making drinks cans from recycled material saves up to 95 per cent of the energy, and greenhouse gas emissions needed to make both aluminium and steel from raw materials.

If all of the metal packaging used in homes in Huntingdonshire each year was collected for recycling, it is estimated it would save 2,367 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking more than 500 cars off local streets for a year.

Executive councillor for waste management at the district council, Councillor Marge Beutell, said: “We want to encourage 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. 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 blue recycling bin can make a big difference.

“Huntingdonshire residents are already committed to recycling and reducing waste, and it’s great news that they’ve recycled 53 per cent of their waste so far this financial year.

“Now we want to ask people to think about the quality of their recycling as well as the quantity. Only putting the right items in and making sure you rinse food tins and trays in used washing-up water helps ensure they are recycled effectively. What’s good for recycling is good for us – clean recycling is worth more and means we get more income to support our services.”

MetalMatters campaigns have run in 81 local authority areas and reached more than five million households since 2012.

The MetalMatters programme is managed by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro).

Rick Hindley, executive director of Alupro, said: “It is great to be able to work in partnership with Huntingdonshire District Council to promote the recycling of metal packaging. This campaign has delivered significant increases in the amount of metal packaging collected for recycling in other parts of the UK, so we are aiming to repeat, and hopefully better this across Huntingdonshire.”