The United States Conference of Mayors and Novelis Inc. announced the winners in the Cans For Cash: City Recycling Challenge on America Recycles Day.
For the second year, the program challenged like-sized cities to compete against each other in aluminum can collection for monetary awards and to encourage recycling. During the first two weeks in September, more than 40 cities collected over 3 million pounds of aluminum cans, equating to 107 million UBCs.
This year’s campaign saw a 73 percent increase in UBCs – an additional 45 million cans were collected and recycled from last year, which collected 62 million cans.
The winners of the $5,000 awards for the most aluminum cans recycled are:
- Division One (population 250,000+) Milwaukee, WI - 1,002,792 pounds
- Division Two (population 100,00-249,999) Knoxville, TN- 182,672 pounds
- Division Three (population 50,000-99,999) Des Plaines, IL - 356,380 pounds
- Division Four (population below 50,000) Artesia, CA - 73,020 pounds
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, Louisville, KY; Division Two, Salt Lake City, UT; Division Three: Fargo, ND; Division Four: Monticello, IN.