Pledge to Recycle Empty Aerosols on America Recycles Day

Today is America Recycles Day, and on this special day we encourage citizens to take the pledge to recycle more products, including empty aerosol containers. The number of municipalities accepting empty aerosol containers in the U.S. is increasing – making recycling aerosols easier for consumers.  

You can pledge to recycle more by visiting the America Recycles Day site administered by Keep America Beautiful, one of the Consumer Aerosol Product Council’s (CAPCO) partners.  CAPCO is also a sponsor of Recycle-Bowl, a classroom recycling challenge that culminates on America Recycles Day. 

Nearly four billion aerosol cans are produced in the U.S. annually for products ranging from shaving cream to bicycle lubricant.  More than 5,300 municipalities now include aerosol cans in their recycling programs. Most steel aerosol cans feature the “Please Recycle When Empty” logo to indicate they can be safely recycled. Here’s how:

1. Empty the aerosol of its contents through normal use.
2. Check instructions from the local collector to determine if empty aerosols are accepted.
3. Place empty aerosol container in bin along with other recyclables.  

Large cities such as New York City and San Francisco have included empty aerosol cans in their curbside programs for years. CAPCO and the CSPA Aerosol Products Division have been working for 20 years to increase awareness among consumers and to get more municipalities to include aerosol cans in their recycling programs. “Now more than 65 percent of Americans have access to aerosol recycling through curbside pickup, drop off and waste-to-energy recovery programs,” said Doug Fratz, Aerosol Products Division Staff Executive at the Consumer Specialty Products Association, which represents the consumer aerosol industry. “We continue to work toward a day when everyone can easily recycle their aerosol containers.” 

For additional information about aerosol product recycling, go to www.AerosolProducts.org. 

Register Now for Recycle-Bowl Competition!

CAPCO is continuing its partnership with Keep America Beautiful as a sponsor for the Recycle-Bowl.  The first 1,000 schools to register will receive a tool kit that includes information about how to recycle aerosol cans, an educational Material Recovery Facility poster, competition posters, a “recycling coach’s” clipboard and other materials.  Schools are encouraged to register as soon as possible.

How Does Recycle-Bowl Work?

Recycle-Bowl was created to provide students with a fun, interactive way to learn about waste reduction and environmental responsibility through in-school recycling. All schools can participate in the incentive-based recycling competition, which kicks off in October.  But registration is now open on the Recycle-Bowl website at http://recycle-bowl.org. The competition runs from October 21 through November 15, culminating on America Recycles Day. Participating schools will track and report how much recyclable material (bottles, cans, cartons and paper) they collect for a chance to win prizes. At the close of the four-week competition, the school in each state that collects the most recyclable material per capita will win $1,000. A national champion will then be chosen from among the statewide winners to receive an additional grand prize.

Help us reach our goal of having 1,700 schools participate in 2013!

The Recycle-Bowl Competition began in 2011 and by its second year, more than 1,500 schools, representing more than 900,000 students, participated in the competition. Want to know how many schools in your state are currently competing? You can find a state leaderboard on the website and an interactive map showing all the competing schools.

CAPCO reminds teachers and consumers that aerosol products are recyclable when empty.  Many programs already include empty aerosol containers into their curbside recycling programs, but CAPCO is working to get more local municipalities to include them and also to increase awareness among consumers that they can be recycled.  Please visit www.AerosolProducts.org/recycling for more information.

Recycling of Empty Aerosol Products Rises: Work to Increase Awareness Continues

A recent study done for the British Aerosol Manufacturers’ Association (BAMA) showed that in the UK nearly 70% of the population buy/use aerosols and 73% of those are recycling.  In the UK 87% of municipalities accept empty aerosol containers for recycling, this is up dramatically from only 7% accepting them less than two decades ago!

Similarly, the number of municipalities that accept empty aerosol containers in the U.S. is increasing as well.  In a recent webinar sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) shared that more than four billion aerosol cans are produced in the U.S. annually and more than 5,200 municipalities include steel aerosol cans in their recycling programs, serving more than 100 million people according to the Steel Recycling Institute (more than 75% of aerosols are steel).

Fortunately, large cities such as New York City and San Francisco have included empty aerosol cans in their curbside programs for years. But there is still work to be done to increase awareness among consumers. It is important for consumers and municipalities to understand that empty aerosol cans are recyclable to increase participation in recycling efforts. The good news is that both steel and aluminum are infinitely recyclable and valuable, so the case for recycling them is strong.

 

For example, steel food cans are currently accepted in 18,239 recycling programs already.  If all those programs also included empty steel aerosol cans, 193 million people would be served—that’s about 2/3 of the U.S. population!

   

CAPCO is an educational non-profit focused on providing the facts about today’s aerosol products, including their recyclability.  To learn more, please visit www.aerosolproducts.org/recycling.

Traveling Tips for Aerosol Products

Not sure which personal care items you are allowed to bring on your business trip or vacation?  Aerosol products such as hairspray, shaving gel, and spray deodorant are allowed, and airport security guidelines have made it easier to follow the guidelines with the 3-1-1 rule:

Please visit www.tsa.gov for more information

You are allowed containers of liquid, aerosol or otherwise, as long as they are 3.4 oz or 100 mL or smaller, placed inside a quart-size zip-top bag, and use one bag per traveler in the security bin.  Only 1 zip-top bag per person is allowed, to limit the overall amounts of liquids, aerosols, and gels on the flight.

If you have larger containers, more containers, or have a long flight, it is recommended to put them in your checked baggage. 

Using the 3-1-1 system will help you to avoid long waits at the TSA security checkpoints, and ensures that everyone has a safer flight. 

For aerosol items specifically, TSA allows them in those quantities as long as they are for personal care or toiletry use. 

The Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) encourages all consumers to use aerosol products according to instructions on the label, and reminds consumers that aerosol products are recyclable when empty and have been free of CFCs for over 30 years.  For more information about aerosol products please visit www.AerosolProducts.org.