It highlights the significant investment made into kerbside collection schemes and the need to maximise their performance.

What’s interesting is the conclusion that incentives, regardless of whether they are carrot or stick, appear to have relatively modest outcomes and don’t always provide clear return on investment.

It supports the view expressed in Defra’s Evaluation of the Waste Reward and Recognition Scheme report last month; that while rewards and recognition have the potential to improve people’s existing behaviour they are less likely to act as a catalyst for new behaviours.

My view for some time has been that you can’t compel households to act differently through incentive alone. There are plenty of people that still file their tax return late and incur a fine, even though they get plenty of warning and are aware of the penalties. People lead busy lives and recycling behaviour is more of a subconscious than conscious behaviour.

Apart from giving householders the physical means to recycle more effectively, the opportunity is to educate and communicate the benefits of recycling, not just to them personally but to wider society and the environment.

MetalMatters helps local authorities promote their kerbside metal recycling through a tried and tested communications programme. The success of our local authority partnerships are supported by Secro’s resident survey, which indicated that people are more likely to be encouraged to recycle by marketing communications than incentives [reference: 9% and 5% respectively].

For example, Aberdeenshire Council recorded a sustained increase in metal packaging recycling after launching the MetalMatters programme, which was delivered in partnership

with Zero Waste Scotland. It generated a return on investment within just 10 months and increased metal tonnages collected at the kerbside by 12%.

Similarly, one year on from launching a programme with Sefton Borough Council, 63% of the estimated total metal packaging used by households in the area is now collected for recycling — double the amount compared to before the campaign was introduced.

A big factor in the success of the MetalMatters programmes has been our unwavering focus on simplicity — a lesson that may benefit the local authorities looking to improve their recycling figures. We knew from the outset that to encourage householders to recycle more metal packaging we needed compelling and very simple communication to cut through with our messages. We are fortunate that the advantages and convenience of metal packaging recycling is really simple. It’s valuable, endlessly recyclable and can be transformed into something new within as little as six weeks.

As the Defra report concluded, reward schemes should not be seen as a quick fix. If behaviour change is to be achieved, communication is the key.

Latest figures from industry recycling programme, MetalMatters, show that it has successfully delivered sustained increases in the volumes of metal packaging collected at the kerbside long after the initial communications campaign intervention period.

Analysis of recycling collections by two of the local authorities that ran campaigns during 2012 show capture rates have continued to rise steadily during 2013, providing lasting return on investment.

One year after the programme finished, Sefton Council’s metal capture rates have continued to rise by 16%. The additional revenue derived from the increased tonnage of valuable metal packaging collected covered the campaign costs in just three months, generating additional revenue stream to plough back into the area.

Figures show that 63% of the estimated total metal packaging used by households in Sefton is now collected for recycling. This is double the amount compared to before the MetalMatters campaign launched and is proof that the programme has a long-term impact on householders’ recycling behaviour.

Aberdeenshire Council has also recorded a sustained increase in metal packaging recycling since launching the MetalMatters programme in partnership with funding from Zero Waste Scotland in 2012, which generated a return on investment in just 10 months. In September 2012 the campaign had driven a 9% increase in metal capture rates. Now, a year after the campaign, metal tonnages collected at the kerbside have risen by 12%.

The MetalMatters programme is funded by metal packaging manufacturers, fillers and reprocessors and is delivered on their behalf by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro), working in partnership with local authorities and their waste collection partners.

Campaigns include leaflet drops to households and targeted marketing communications activities to promote the ‘make your metals matter’ message. In addition, MetalMatters provides councils with a range of additional template communications materials to use in local activities to promote the benefits of metal recycling.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director at Alupro says: “These latest figures show that local authorities implementing the MetalMatters campaign can create a long-lasting change in peoples’ recycling behaviour. They prove that the significant investment and time that went into researching and developing the programme has paid off. Our local authority partners are experiencing such positive results in increasing their recycling rates and reducing their waste sent to landfill that they not only recover the campaign investment costs but also generate additional revenue streams that can be ploughed back into the communities they serve.”

Pam Walker, Principal Waste Management Officer at Aberdeenshire Council, said: “We are committed to driving up kerbside recycling rates and when we launched the MetalMatters campaign last year we were very pleased to see the immediate positive effect it had on metal capture rates across the area. We have continued to use the campaign materials since then, and this has helped remind residents about the value of recycling their metals. What is even better is that these results have been sustained, and have improved further, showing that the messages have really hit home with people.”

To date MetalMatters campaigns have reached over 2.4 million households across the UK and there are new partnerships with local authorities planned for 2014 to further increase consumer awareness around kerbside recycling.

Metalmatters is run by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.

Newport City Council has become the first local authority in Wales to launch the MetalMatters recycling communications programme — a campaign supported by the industry partnership and Waste Awareness Wales.

The ‘make your metals matter’ campaign is being launched to encourage residents in Newport to recycle more of the estimated 75 million units of metal packaging — including food and drink cans, aerosols, aluminium foil trays and the wrapping foil — they use in their homes each year.

Leaflets delivered to every household will help residents understand what else can be recycled in the council’s recycling bins and civic amenity sites, and explain what happens to the metals collected.

The eight-week campaign launched at a recycling roadshow held at the Newport City Homes Residents Festival and will target each of the 65,000 households in the City with leaflets sent to every home, coverage in the council’s residents magazine and lamp post advertising which will carry the ‘make your metals matter’ message.

Roadshows at local supermarkets and a competition to win a range of metal products featured on the campaign leaflets will also be used to spread the message to residents.

Cllr Ken Critchley, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure at Newport City Council, said: “We’re calling on Newport residents to make their metals matter and hope this campaign will help to educate them about metal packaging recycling and the benefits it can have on increasing the city’s sustainability. We are committed to decreasing the amount of waste sent to landfill and we hope this campaign will encourage our residents to recycle more of their metal packaging.”

Andrew Osborne, Recycling Officer at Waste Awareness Wales said “We’re proud to support this campaign which is the first of its kind in Wales focusing on metal packaging. We hope we see increases in metal recycling as well as other materials collected by Newport Council at the kerbside”

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of project managers Alupro, said: “We are excited to be launching our first MetalMatters campaign in Wales and to be working in partnership with Waste Awareness Wales to co-fund this programme. Similar MetalMatters campaigns have delivered impressive results for local authorities and their waste management partners in other areas of the UK, and we are confident that this communications campaign can help Newport City Council to increase recycling capture rates by positively changing consumer behaviour.

“Previous MetalMatters campaigns have shown that the more consumer-facing activity the local authorities implement, the greater the effect it has on capture rates. Newport City Council has really taken this on board with a series of roadshows and a competition for residents to further drive local engagement, and we look forward to working with them over the coming months to help drive it forward.”

The campaign is being jointly funded by MetalMatters, an industry partnership comprising the UK’s leading producers, users and recyclers of metal packaging, Waste Awareness Wales and Newport City Council. Metalmatters is run by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.

A major communications campaign that targeted over 600,000 households in Kent has driven a 9% increase in the tonnage of metal packaging captured by kerbside recycling collections.

The MetalMatters campaign, which ran from October to December 2012, was delivered jointly by Alupro and the Kent Resource Partnership (KRP). Alupro figures indicate the value from the increased tonnage covered the campaign costs in a five month period.

Funded jointly by the metal packaging sector and the KRP, the campaign cost 21p per household, the best value of any of the MetalMatters campaigns across the UK to date.

The campaign included a two-phase leaflet drop to every household in the 12 districts in the KRP area, six weeks apart. This was supported by advertising across buses and council recycling collection vehicles. In addition MetalMatters provided the councils with a range of template communications materials to use in local campaigns and activities to promote the benefits of metal recycling.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of project managers Alupro, said: “The aim of MetalMatters is to help local authorities increase recycling capture rates by positively changing consumer behaviour and to not only recover the campaign investment costs, but deliver additional lasting revenue streams.

“Our partnership with Kent Resource Partnership was the most ambitious we’d attempted but it has delivered on all counts. It reinforces our experience with previous MetalMatters campaigns that investment in householder communications can make a real difference to recycling capture rates, and go on to deliver cost-effective results for local authorities and their waste management partners.”

Councillor Paul Barrington-King, Chair of the KRP, said: “The potential for kerbside services to capture greater quantities of valuable metals is an ongoing activity for the KRP. We were delighted to work with Alupro to roll-out the MetalMatters campaign across the whole of Kent. The fact that we delivered the most ambitious and best value campaign to date shows how well the partnership between Alupro and the KRP focused on delivering top-notch results.

“The programme’s success to date clearly demonstrates the benefits of communicating the merits of metal recycling at a local level.”

To date MetalMatters campaigns have reached over two million households across the UK with 30% of that number being in Kent. Many local authorities have been able to improve their metal capture rates. In areas with existing good capture rates, like Kent, a 9% increase is very significant.

Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire County Council, in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, also recorded a nine per cent increase in the capture rate of all metals in the region. Another example saw Sefton Council increase its capture rate of metals by 64 per cent.

Metalmatters is run by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) on behalf of the funding partners.