More recycling = more trees

THE more we recycle, the more trees will be grown

The council is continuing to support a scheme which promises to grow a fruit tree in Malawi for every tonne of aluminium drinks cans and foil recycled over the next two years.

The initiative is being run by not for profit organisation Alupro in partnership with British charity Ripple Africa in a bid to tackle de-forestation and improve nutrition.

Recycling aluminium is 20 times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite.

So getting into the recycling habit not only saves massive amounts of energy, but will now also help reach the target of growing 85,000 trees in rural Malawi.

And following residents recycling efforts last year, Warrington already has trees planted in Malawi.

About half the new trees -  producing guava and paw paw fruits -  will be grown from seed in 75 existing nurseries.  

The remainder will be high-value grafted fruit trees, which will be produced in new greenhouses at the charity’s base on Lake Malawi before being sold to individuals and small community businesses.  

Cllr Alan Litton, Executive Board member for environment services, said: “Warrington residents have really taken to recycling and as well as increasing our own recycling rates and reducing the amount we send to landfill, its great to think there are added benefits in helping people in other countries.

“So don’t forget to recycle everything you possibly can as well as aluminium cans - the more cans and foil you recycle, the more fruit trees will be grown.”

 
The programme runs alongside an initiative to encourage the coppicing of quick-growing trees for firewood, and the production of clay stoves which reduce the number of trees each family needs from 120 trees a year to 40. 

The potential for the project to make a real difference to building a sustainable future is enormous.

Ends

Caption: Warrington’s trees in Malawi

Editor’s notes

The Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) is a not for profit organisation sponsored by the leading aluminium packaging producer, reprocessor and exporter companies.   www.alupro.org.uk

Ripple Africa is a small charity which works in the Nkhata Bay District of Malawi on educational, healthcare and environmental projects.    www.rippleafrica.org

The amount of aluminium recycled each year has risen by 47 per cent since 2003, when Alupro first ran a campaign to grow a tree for every tonne of aluminium packaging recycled, and more than 100,000 trees have already been planted in the UK and Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Issued by:  Joanna Driscoll, Principal Communications Officer
Date:   Tuesday 29 July, 2008
Release: Immediate