Winners of National Recycling Competition Announced
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Novelis Inc. and Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) recently announced the winners in the fifth annual “Cans for Cash: City Recycling Challenge” at the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The program pit cities of similar size against each other in an aluminum can challenge during October 2008. More than 40 cities participated, collecting over 115 million used beverage cans.
“We are proud that our Cans for Cash Program helped jump-start existing programs and redirected many communities to focus on a common goal,” said Conference President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.
According to Germain, the aluminum can is the only packaging material that covers its recycling costs.
Not only did cities compete for total pounds of cans collected, they also fought for the most innovative education and marketing campaign to raise awareness about the importance of recycling.
The winners for the most aluminum cans recycled are:
- Division One (population 250,000+) Milwaukee, WI – 1,750,595 pounds
- Division Two (population 100,000-249,999) Fontana, CA – 266,271 pounds
- Division Three (population 50,000-99,999) Hesperia, CA – 1,120,660 pounds
- Division Four (population below 50,000) – University City, MO – 56,211 pounds
The cities being recognized for the most innovative campaigns are:
- Division One: Lexington, KY
- Division Two: Irvine, CA
- Division Three: North Miami, FL
- Division Four: Troy, OH
“Recycling plays a critical role in maintaining the aluminum can as an environmentally sustainable package,” said Jean-Marc Germain, president, Novelis North America. “Every can that is recovered is turned back into a new beverage can, saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing the use of natural resources. Plus, the aluminum beverage can is the only packaging material that more than covers the cost of collection and re-processing for itself and subsidizes other containers.”
In the first year of the competition, 1,834,699 pounds of aluminum cans were collected. This year, 3,401,859 pounds were collected, an increase of almost 46 percent.
