The “formidable force”, as the British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association (BAMA) dubs it, of the UK's Women's Institute (WI) has been called upon by the leading UK aerosol trade body to reinforce the importance of recycling aerosols.
Two members of Islington WI in London, Sarah Nightingale and Gemma Woznicki, recently took part in an aerosol recycling photo-shoot for an advertisement scheduled to appear in the April issue of the Association’s magazine, distributed to over 200,000 WI members in England, Wales and the Channel Islands. The advertisement, which shows the pair mixing an oversized “cake” of empty metal cans and placing an aerosol on the top as the “cherry on the cake”, aims to help raise awareness among the magazine’s readership that aerosols can be recycled along with other metal packaging waste.
Sue Rogers, BAMA’s director, says: “Recycling has been an important issue for BAMA for many years. Eighty-nine per cent of UK consumers use aerosols in the home and yet our recent research shows half don’t know aerosols can be recycled. We are delighted the WI is taking our message on board.”
BAMA says it has had great success in persuading local authorities to take aerosols over the years; 75% of councils now collect and recycle empty aerosol containers, whereas just five years ago it was estimated that just 7% of aerosols were being collected for recycling.
Each year, UK consumers use around 600m aerosols, equivalent to about 10 per person; this equates to over 30,000 tonnes of reclaimable high grade metal that can be recycled.
Islington WI members Sarah Nightingale (left) and Gemma Woznicki appear in the BAMA’s latest aerosol recycling advertisement WI_Full_Page