By Judy Sheahan
March 28, 2005

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett accepted two Cans for Cash Recycling awards at a March 15 press conference in Milwaukee. The award, sponsored by the Conference of Mayors and Novelis Corporation, honored Milwaukee for winning the large city category for recycling the most aluminum cans in a two-week timeframe, as well as having the most creative outreach efforts.

Milwaukee recycled nearly 540,000 pounds of aluminum. They also broke the Guinness World Record for the longest line of aluminum cans. Nearly 60 volunteers lined up 33,952 cans, shattering the previous record by 6,574 cans.

"Accomplishing the feat of lining up almost 34,000 cans is very special," Barrett said. "By doing that, we helped solidify the $5,000 grant for innovative thinking. It was great to see so many community volunteers come together to help."

Milwaukee received two $5,000 cash awards for winning each category. "It is an honor to win the inaugural Cans for Cash contest," Barrett said. "This contest was the first step towards launching Milwaukee's 2005 recycling efforts, and the $10,000 grant is going to be used towards citywide recycling education and promotion."

"I look forward to winning this award every year and I challenge other cities to try to beat the city of Milwaukee," Barrett added.

The Cans for Cash Recycling Challenge was created to help recycle more aluminum cans and to draw attention to the fact that nearly half of the aluminum cans that could be recycled end up in landfills. Brenda Pulley, Vice-President of Government Affairs for Novelis participated in the press conference and told the audience that those aluminum cans were worth close to a billion dollars. She also reassured the community that what they recycled was going to be used again. "It takes 60 days from the time you place an aluminum can in the recycling bin until it becomes another aluminum can," Pulley said, "aluminum is an infinitely recyclable material."

Other winners of the Cans for Cash Recycling Award announced at the Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting included: Knoxville (TN) Mayor William Haslam; Hesperia (CA) Mayor Jim Lindley; Elk Grove (IL) Mayor Craig Johnson; Salt Lake City (UT) Mayor Ross C "Rocky" Anderson; Odessa (TX) Mayor Larry Melton; and Conway (AR) Mayor Tab Townsell.

A compilation of recycling best practices will be made available on Conference of Mayors and Municipal Waste Management Associations' web site at usmayors.org/mwma.