John Craven supports can recycling drive
TV presenter John Craven has launched a new appeal for people in Wealden to help plant more trees by recycling their aluminium cans and foil.
For every tonne of aluminium packaging Wealden households are able to recycle, a tree will be donated to local schools, parish councils and other organisations. The scheme is being run by Wealden District Council’s Waste Management team in conjunction with the not-for-profit organisation Alupro (Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation). The offer lasts until September 2006.
“Trees breathe life into the world and we have fewer trees in the UK than any other country in Europe,” explains TV presenter John Craven. “It is so easy for people to get involved by just putting their aluminium drinks cans and foil in their kerbside container or recycling banks. The more that is recycled the more trees will be planted”.
Last year, 64 native trees (including English Oak, Scots Pine, Silver Birch and Rowan) were awarded to Wealden for collecting 64 tonnes of aluminium. These trees have been planted and are now flourishing through-out the district.
“This is a great incentive to encourage recycling,“ said Councillor Mrs Pam Doodes, Cabinet Member for Health & Public Safety.“Aluminium cans thrown away in the wheelie bin take up valuable land fill space. Aluminium cans recycled lead to trees we can all enjoy. And recycling aluminium conserves energy that would otherwise be used in the smelting process. It can’t help but make sense.”
Wealden’s Waste Management Team is hoping that more aluminium can be recycled this year and so even more trees can be planted in the district. Wealden will shortly be claiming its first batch of trees for November delivery.
If you are on the C.R.O.W.N. (Composting and Recycling Our Waste Now) service, you will have a blue box in which to put your cans, foil and aerosols – you can also put all your paper in here too. Alternatively, you can recycle your cans, foil and aerosols at your local recycling point (lots of other items can be recycled at recycling points as well – just call the Waste Management Team for further details on 01892 602626 or see the Wealden website – www.wealden.gov.uk.
As well as encouraging tree planting through aluminium recycling in the UK, John Craven is also working with Tree Aid, a charity supporting tree planting in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
