Issues: Environment, Community Development, Natural Resource Management, Education
Stakeholders: Communities
Region: Europe
Established to drive aluminum can recycling in the U.K., Novelis Recycling is involved in a range of initiatives to engage and educate consumers about the benefits of recycling.
The goal to educate tomorrow’s recyclers so that they understand the importance of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ is intended to help consumers make informed choices with regards to sustainability. To this end, Novelis Recycling invested in the development of resources that link aluminum and recycling to the core subjects of the British schools’ curriculum.
‘Think Cans in the Classroom’ offers a range of web-based resources that teachers and waste education professionals can freely access and download, for use in subjects including Science, Geography, Design Technology, Citizenship and Enterprise/Business Studies. The resources include lesson plans, games and an interactive resource, The Aluminium Can Recycling Loop, which is a full audio-visual tour of the life cycle of a beverage can.
In addition, Novelis Recycling is supporting recycling and sustainability programs at two of the UK’s leading science discovery museums. At Thinktank in Birmingham, the ‘Recycle!’ exhibit features a re-creation of the aluminum can recycling process modeled after Novelis’ Latchford operation. At the Catalyst Science Discovery Center, located close to the UBC recycling plant at Latchford, visitors can take a virtual tour of the recycling plant and ‘meet’ members of plant personnel. With the support of Novelis, both Thinktank and Catalyst have developed educational programs linked to the exhibits which will teach thousands of children – and their families – about sustainability for years to come.
