Milwaukee, WI (February 5, 2010) – For the sixth year in a row, the City of Milwaukee has won the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Cans for Cash – City Recycling Challenge sponsored by Novelis Inc, and Keep America Beautiful Inc, receiving a $5,000 prize for collecting the most aluminum cans during October 2009.  Over 40 competing cites collected 125 million cans.  Milwaukee alone accounted for over 60 million cans with a weight of nearly 1.8 million pounds!  Lined up, they would stretch out over 2,380 miles, or from Milwaukee’s City Hall all the way to Vancouver BC, Canada!  Recycling these cans has saved the energy equivalent of over 2,750,000 gallons of gasoline, and conserved over 2,640 cubic yards of landfill space.  Awards for most cans are given in four population categories, and Milwaukee is the only city to win the contest every year since its inception.  Milwaukee has won a total of $35,000: five grand for each of six years collecting the most aluminum cans and another $5,000 for once capturing the title of most innovative campaign.  This was done in 2004 by breaking the Guinness World record for longest line of aluminum cans.

Local scrap metal and recycling businesses have been instrumental in Milwaukee winning the contest year after year.  These green businesses partner with the City to provide documentation of collected aluminum, and the repeat victories illustrate Milwaukee’s vibrant scrap metal recycling industry.  “Recycling supports hundreds of jobs in Milwaukee and keeps valuable resources from going to waste”, said Mayor Tom Barrett.  Manufacturing new aluminum cans from recycled cans requires about 95% less energy than when starting from virgin raw materials, reducing both pollution and production costs.  “The best thing about this contest is that it provides another avenue to promote the value of recycling.  Recovering resources benefits our environment and the economy,” said Rick Meyers, City of Milwaukee Recycling Specialist.  For more information, visit www.MilwaukeeRecycles.com. 

The aluminum can is a commonly recycled item, but there is still room for improvement.  “Novelis is committed to increasing the recycling rate for used aluminum beverage containers in the U.S. from 54% today to 75% by 2015,” said Jean-Marc Germain, President, Novelis North America.  “Each year, Americans still discard over 50 billion aluminum cans which end up in landfills.  Through campaigns such as this, awareness of the importance of recycling is increased and the message is spread that every can recovered is turned back into a new beverage can – saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and decreasing the use of natural resources.” 

The City of Milwaukee looks forward to participating once again in next year’s competition.  “The United States Conference of Mayors applauds all the participants of the 2009 Cans For Cash City Recycling Program,” said Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of The United States Conference of Mayors.  “These cities had an opportunity to bring the benefits of recycling to the forefront of their communities, demonstrating that recycling does begin with ‘I Can’.  Congratulations to the winning cities. Their commitment to environmental stewardship is unmatched. Once again, they are leading the way towards a greener and more sustainable tomorrow.”