A report by a midlands city council showed that of all the aluminium foil being thrown away by its residents, only 20 per cent of it was making its way into the recycling. The rest was going straight in the bin with other rubbish destined for landfill.
Foil is made of aluminium, used for foil and drinks cans, but also in electronics, including smartphones, kitchen appliances, and even aeroplanes. In fact, the report discovered that the foil thrown away by residents of that particular city each year was enough to build three commercial aeroplanes. Let’s not make the same mistake in Greater Manchester!
Many kinds of foil can be recycled, such as kitchen foil, takeaway containers, pie trays, chocolate wrapping (including coins) and coloured foil.
Clean aluminium foil and foil trays can be recycled in your mixed recycling bin at home.
This does not include foil wrapped crisp packets or pet food pouches. These items can look like aluminium foil but are actually made from metallised plastic film.
Some food brands have partnered with TerraCycle to recycle crisp packets and food pouches. Check for a recycling drop off point near you. If there isn’t a recycling point near you, put these in your general waste bin.
To find out if an item is foil or metallised plastic film, do the scrunch test. Simply scrunch the item in your hand – if it stays ‘scrunched’ it is foil and can be recycled. If it springs back it is probably metallised plastic film.
Aluminium foil is endlessly recyclable and can be reformed into thousands of different items without the need for any new material. Making products from recycled aluminium uses only five per cent of the energy it takes to make new foil from raw materials. Let’s make the most of it.
