82 Million Aluminum Cans Recycled During U.S. City Challenge
2006 Cans for Cash Winners Announced
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Novelis Inc. (NYSE: NVL) (TSX: NVL) and Keep America Beautiful, Inc. announced the winners in the 2006 Cans for Cash: City Recycling Challenge on America Recycles Day. For the third year, the program challenged like-sized cities to compete against each other in aluminum can collection for monetary awards and to encourage recycling. During two weeks in September, more than 30 cities collected over 2.4 million pounds of aluminum cans which equates to over 82 million used beverage cans.
"Friendly, spirited competitions like the City Recycling Challenge bring city officials, communities and schools together to help promote recycling," said Kevin Greenawalt, President, Novelis North America. "Working together, the goal is to foster efforts to promote the value of aluminum can recycling and help cities sustain their local efforts."
"We are proud that our Cans for Cash Program helped jump-start existing programs and redirected many communities to focus on a common goal," said Michael A. Guido, Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan and President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. "Mayors leveraged their relationships with community and civic organizations, partnered with schools, and linked the can recycling challenge with community improvement and service projects. Participating cities should be excited and proud that they contributed to the recycling of more than 2 million pounds of aluminum cans."
The winners of the $5,000 awards for the most aluminum cans recycled are:
- Division One (population 250,000+) Milwaukee, WI* - 1,147,084 pounds, Mayor Tom Barrett
- Division Two (population 100,000-249,999) Fontana, CA - 213,515 pounds, Mayor Mark Nuami
- Division Three (population 50,000-99,999) Bowling Green, KY - 78,310 pounds, Mayor Elaine Walker
- Division Four (population below 50,000) Richmond, IN - 29,670 pounds, Mayor Sally Hutton
- * Note: 2005 Winner in Division Category
To help mayors engage their communities in recycling and raise awareness about its importance over the long term, cities submitted innovative education and marketing ideas for an additional $5,000 award. The cities being recognized for the most innovative campaigns are as follows:
- Division One: Lexington, KY, Mayor Teresa Ann Isaac
- Division Two: Tallahassee, FL, Mayor John Marks
- Division Three: Bowling Green, KY, Mayor Elaine Walker
- Division Four: Columbus, IN, Mayor Fred Armstrong
Winning Cities that Partnered with local Keep America Beautiful, Inc. affiliate will be awarded $5,000 and $2,500 respectively:
- Division One: Louisville, KY, Mayor Jerry E. Abramson
- Division Four: Tupelo, MS, Mayor Ed Neely
"It is fitting that Keep America Beautiful affiliates - Brightside in Louisville, Ky., and Keep Tupelo Beautiful in Tupelo, Miss. - are being recognized on America Recycles Day for rallying citizens to recycle aluminum cans," said G. Raymond Empson, president of Keep America Beautiful. "Our affiliates across the country partner with government, business, and other organizations to encourage recycling, reduce waste and prevent litter. We were pleased to partner with Novelis and The U.S. Conference of Mayors, and to increase aluminum recycling rates through this important public education initiative."
The aluminum can is the country's most recycled beverage container and has been for more than 20 years. In 2005, more than 100 billion aluminum beverage cans were produced in the United States and 52% of them were recycled (a 1.0% increase over the previous year). Nearly the same amount - close to 50 billion cans or roughly $1.5 billion worth of aluminum - was lost to landfill.
For a complete list of cities that participated in the 2006 Cans for Cash program, please visit: www.usmayors.org/mwma
About U.S. Conference of Mayors
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today, each represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the Mayor.
About Novelis
Novelis is the global leader in aluminum rolled products and aluminum can recycling. The company operates in 11 countries and has approximately 12,500 employees. Novelis has the unrivaled capability to provide its customers with a regional supply of technologically sophisticated rolled aluminum products throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Through its advanced production capabilities, the company supplies aluminum sheet and foil to the automotive and transportation, beverage and food packaging, construction and industrial, and printing markets. For more information on the company, visit www.novelis.com, or for aluminum can recycling, visit www.recycle.novelis.com.
About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. For additional information, visit www.kab.org.
Note to Editor: Cans For Cash: City Recycling Challenge Historical Data
Year Pounds of Aluminum No. of Cans per No. of Aluminum
Cans Collected Pound of Cans Collected
Aluminum
2004 1,834,699 34 62,379,767
2005 3,147,828 34 107,026,156
2006 2,419,284 34 82,255,656
SOURCE Novelis Inc.
CONTACT: Media, Susan Jarvis of The U.S. Conference of Mayors,
+1-202-861-6760; or
Pat Persico of Novelis Inc.,
+1-440-423-6522; or
Larry Kaufman of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.,
+1-203-323-8987 x817
Released November 15, 2006