Summer Events

  • Phoebe Kelly

100,000 Cans & Counting: An Every Can Counts Summer

100,000 Cans & Counting: An Every Can Counts Summer 2560 1920 Phoebe Kelly

29 days , 62 recycling ambassadors and over 100,000 drink cans collected for recycling… Our summer of events has officially come to an end for another year!

And this summer, we’ve helped festival goers across the UK and Ireland recycle over 100,000 cans – a 59% year on year increase – while spreading the word about the importance of recycling.

Festival Fun: Recycling on the Go

Outdoor events and festivals are synonymous with summer, and this year, we made sure that Every Can Counts was at the heart of the action. We partnered with several major events and festivals to help spread the recycling message far and wide. Here are some highlights from each event:

The International Recycling Tour: Bristol City Centre

Our summer kicked off with the fourth installation of our International Recycling Tour, where we brought a giant polar bear installation made of recycled aluminium cans to mark World Environment Day.

Alongside the PixelCan, our dedicated ambassadors were also at the promenade, embodying our mission to promote the recycling of drink cans consumed outside the home and inviting the public to recycle their empty cans on the go.

Click here to learn more about the PixelCan installation which appeared in Bristol.

Download Festival

We then headed to Donnington Park to spread the recycling message with one of our favourite crowds at Download Festival!

Our recycling ambassadors engaged with more than 2500 people, while festival-goers recycled over 30,000 cans in exchange for our #EveryCanCounts rewards, including our iconic ‘Metal Never Dies’ t-shirts and our Download keyrings made from recycled aluminium. And let’s not forget that thousands more cans were recycled in our voting bins and can-shaped backpacks!

The Red Bull Soapbox Race

We entered the #RedBullSoapboxRace to raise awareness about the importance of recycling drink cans… but we never imagined we’d end up on the podium! At this year’s Red Bull Soapbox Race in London, we placed third, beating 55 other teams with our aptly named Chitty Chitty Can Can to claim the bronze medal.

Our soapbox, our costumes and even our dance routine aimed to inspire people with the magic of can recycling, and we were blown away by the reception we received from the crowds at Ally Pally!

Click here to learn more about our journey to the podium at the soapbox race.

Stendhal Festival

Our team of recycling ambassadors returned to Stendhal Festival in Limavady, Northern Ireland. They brought their enthusiasm to the festival grounds as they interacted with attendees while carrying their iconic recycling backpacks and sparking meaningful conversations about the importance of recycling. We also brought our ‘I Heart Recycling’ can cages to the festival, providing a powerful visual reminder for everyone to responsibly recycle their empty cans.

2000trees

We returned to 2000Trees in July where everyone continued to show us their commitment to recycling by consistently filling our can cages throughout the festival! Over 12,000 cans were collected in our ‘I Heart Recycling’ cages and over 500 people took the time to stop and chat with our team of ambassadors who were roaming around the site to spread the Every Can Counts message.

Our recycling rewards were also a huge hit at 2000Trees, as many people rocked their recycling-themed temporary tattoos across the weekend.

Latitude Festival

Not only did we unveil a brand-new set of can cages, but we also brought our canny mascots to life at Latitude 2024! Adorned in over 300 drink cans, our canny mascots made quite the impression as they danced, hugged, and high-fived their way into everybody’s hearts!

An incredible 1500 people took part in our recycling questionnaire, with even more people getting into the recycling spirit and chatting to our team around the festival.

Putting the Fun into Recycling

At each event, our passionate team of recycling ambassadors collected drink cans using a variety of creative and innovative methods including:

  • Recycling rewards—We gave festival-goers at Download, Latitude and Electric Picnic the opportunity to win a special edition t-shirt or a keyring made from recycled aluminium by bringing our recycling ambassadors a bag of cans ready to be recycled!
  • Temporary tattoos – we offered recycling-themed tattoos to all the recycling superheroes at our events!
  • Fun ways to recycle your empty drink cans – we gave people the opportunity to cast a vote for their favourite headliner by recycling their cans in our voting bins. We also brought our iconic ‘I Heart Recycling’ cages to the Soapbox Race, Stendhal and 2000Trees; while the Latitude crowd could recycle their cans in our brand new LATITUDE recycling cages!
  • Our canny mascots – our recycling ambassadors took turns to wander around the site at the Red Bull Soapbox Race and Latitude in an iconic suit made from over 300 cans.
  • Our motorised soapbox – maybe you saw our eye-catching half-can, half-plane aluminium soapbox driving around the campsite villages at Download and Latitude to spread the recycling message!

Our Recycling Questionnaire

In addition to recycling drink cans, the ambassadors also gathered over 6,700 responses for Every Can Counts’ recycling survey, with the results revealing that festival goers would recycle more when they’re away from home if there were more recycling points.

Beaches and green spaces, streets, and shopping centres were named the top locations where people feel more drink can recycling points are needed.

Chris Latham-Warde, Programme Manager at Every Can Counts, said: “It’s been a fantastic summer working with major festivals and event organisers across the UK and Ireland, as well as our drink brand partners, to raise awareness about the importance of recycling.

“Thanks to the enthusiasm of festival goers and our dedicated team of ambassadors, we’ve not only recycled over 100,000 cans across the UK, but also hopefully inspired thousands to make recycling a part of their daily lives.

“Every can that is recycled can be back on the shelf in 60 days and if we work together, we can all enjoy greener festivals while getting closer to our goal of a 100% drink can recycling rate.”

Looking Ahead: Help Us To Keep The Cycle Going

If you came across the Every Can Counts team this summer and are now feeling inspired to make a difference, here’s a reminder of a few things you can do to make your empty cans count:

  1. Recycle your drink cans while you’re out and about. If there is no recycling bin around, hold on to your cans until you find one, or take them home and recycle them there.
  2. If you’re camping or picnicking in the great outdoors, bring some bags with you to separate your recycling from your general waste.  
  3. If you work or volunteer at an organisation without drink can recycling facilities, we can help you do something about it! Request a free Every Can Counts starter pack here to set up a can collection point.
  4. Help us spread the Every Can Counts message! Remember that aluminium recycles forever, and drink cans have the potential to go around the recycling loop in just 60 days. Help us get the word out there to those who don’t know and encourage everyone to recycle their cans on-the-go!

But the fun doesn’t stop here! We have plenty of exciting things planned for the coming months, with more events and initiatives in the pipeline. Together, we can continue to make a difference and make sure that every can really does count.

Thank you to everyone who joined us this summer!

  • Phoebe Kelly

Giant Polar Bear Installation Prowls Bristol City Centre

Giant Polar Bear Installation Prowls Bristol City Centre 2560 1703 Phoebe Kelly

As part of our fourth annual International Recycling Tour, a giant polar bear installation made of recycled aluminium cans appeared on Bristol’s Centre Promenade on June 5th to mark World Environment Day!

Made from 2,000 cans, the PixelCan artwork was created to shine a light on species which are currently endangered or vulnerable due to ecosystem degradation.

Alongside the stunning art piece, our dedicated ambassadors were also at the promenade, embodying our mission to promote the recycling of drink cans consumed outside the home and inviting the public to recycle their empty cans on the go.

Our team of ambassadors worked hard to raise awareness about the importance of recycling drink cans while collecting cans in their recycling backpacks.

The International Recycling Tour

The polar bear installation forms part of the fourth edition of our annual International Recycling Tour, which also launched on World Environment Day following new data revealing that a record 10.7 billion cans were recycled in the UK in 2023.

The tour aims to highlight the importance of drink can recycling in saving valuable resources and mitigating climate change.

This year, the tour has made a bold visual statement with its PixelCan artworks of endangered animals including a sea turtle, tiger, and chimpanzee, alongside the polar bear in Bristol.

Encouraging individuals across the globe to become #GenerationRestoration, the initiative is taking place simultaneously in 16 cities including Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Click here to learn more about the International Recycling Tour!  

David Van Heuverswyn, Director of Every Can Counts Global, said: “Our vision is to achieve 100% global drink can recycling! Every can recycled can be back on the shelf in 60 days, and campaigns like the International Recycling Tour bring us one step closer to this vision, demonstrating the power of collective action in creating a truly circular economy for the benefit of both people and nature.

“Here in Bristol, we’re proud to celebrate our tour for the first time with a unique polar bear PixelCan installation to tie into World Environment Day.”

Every Can Counts is a unique partnership formed between drink can manufacturers, drink can fillers and the wider recycling industry, all with the goal of reaching a 100% recycling rate for drink cans.

The programme provides free recycling support to businesses and organisations throughout Ireland and around the globe, reaching 183.5 million people worldwide in 2023 alone and helping recycle over 55 million drink cans through event activations and partnerships.

  • Phoebe Kelly

A Greener Festival Season With Every Can Counts: Highlights From Our Summer

A Greener Festival Season With Every Can Counts: Highlights From Our Summer 2560 1707 Phoebe Kelly

Phew – it’s been a busy summer here at Every Can Counts as we helped to create a greener festival season!

We’ve had a presence at 12 major events (with a total attendance of 1,445,000) and festivals since June, bringing along our inspirational messages and plenty of recycling fun! From immersive installations to games and quizzes, our activities have been encouraging positive behaviour change and raising awareness about the benefits of recycling drink cans.

And we couldn’t have done it without our passionate team of recycling ambassadors! A total of 42 ambassadors helped us to put the fun into recycling this summer by donning their can-recycling backpacks and engaging people with our activities. Our team worked tirelessly over the summer to spread the Every Can Counts message; with over 5,000 people taking part in our recycling quiz and thousands more engaged in our other recycling-themed activities. 

So, what was our aim at these events?

  1. To encourage everyone at the festival to recycle their empty drink cans.
  2. To make drink can recycling fun and accessible.
  3. To inspire more people to recycle on-the-go.
  4. To raise awareness of the many benefits of recycling drink cans.
  5. To empower and reassure people with knowledge about the simplicity and speed of the drink can recycling process.

Read on to see how we brought these ambitions to life this summer!

Celebrating the International Recycling Tour at Mighty Hoopla

We kicked off our summer at Mighty Hoopla in Brockwell Park, where we participated in the third edition of the #EveryCanCounts International Recycling Tour.

How did we help create a greener festival?

  • Our recycling ambassadors: Eight of our dedicated recycling ambassadors roamed the festival with their iconic backpacks collecting empty cans and spreading the message that ‘aluminium recycles forever’.
  • A nature-inspired installation at Mighty Hoopla: made up of 2,000 drink cans, the PixelCan artwork featured tiger eyes designed to have a ‘watching effect’ over festival goers, encouraging them to do the right thing and recycle their empty cans.

Read more about this year’s International Recycling Tour event here.  

Celebrating 20 Years of Download Festival

The 20th anniversary of Download Festival was an extraordinary celebration, and we were there to make it even more special. With the head-turning #EveryCanCounts soapbox, our team roamed around Donnington Park collecting cans and engaging festival goers everywhere they went. Over 40,000 cans were recycled through Every Can Counts’ activities at the events, with thousands upon thousands more being recycled across the whole of the site.

How did we spread the recycling message?

  • Our recycling ambassadors roamed around Download Festival chatting to festival goers and getting them excited about drink can recycling!
  • Our recycling survey and prize draw helped to ignite excitement while giving attendees the opportunity to learn something new about drink can recycling.  Over 2,400 people completed the survey and entered our prize draw for tickets to next year’s festival!
  • Festival goers had the chance to exchange a bag of empty drink cans for recycling rewards, including ‘Metal Never Dies’ t-shirts and recycled aluminium keyrings commemorating the festival’s 20th anniversary.
  • We brought our iconic voting bins and brand new DOWNLOAD can cages to the festival which prompted anyone who passed through the Campsite Village to do the right thing with their empty cans!
  • After its crash at last year’s Red Bull Soapbox Race in London, our iconic soapbox received a rather impressive makeover. Now equipped with an electric motor, it grabbed the attention at Download Festival as our ambassadors drove it around Donington Park, captivating the crowd and spreading the message of sustainability while having fun.
  • We created a PixelCan display of the iconic Download Dog, made from 2,000 recycled drink cans. The art installation was on display for the duration of the festival and proved to be a popular photo opportunity with attendees.
  • On the final day of the festival our team held a recycling quiz which taught those participating about the wonders of can recycling. The winner’s prize was a one-of-a-kind Download 20th anniversary commemorative plaque, made from recycled aluminium.

Return to Silverstone

We had a blast revving up the recycling game at the British Grand Prix for Formula 1 and MotoGP at Silverstone. Who knew that recycling could become a competitive sport too? Our voting bins and our recycling quiz certainly proved it could!

Formula 1 British Grand Prix

  • Our Silverstone can cages were on display, ready for F1 fans to recycle their drink cans and snap a photo beside.
  • We brought out our voting bins to encourage some healthy competition between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fans, all in the name of drink can recycling.
  • Our iconic aluminium Soapbox made an appearance too, creating a buzz around our pitch and helping to engage F1 fans in conversations about aluminium recycling.
  • Our recycling ambassadors roamed the entirety of Silverstone Circuit chatting to fans about all things related to can recycling – and F1 too!

MotoGP British Grand Prix

  • Our team of ambassadors were back roaming the circuit in August during the MotoGP race weekend. With their iconic backpacks, our team brought the recycling bin to MotoGP fans and reminded them about the importance of drink can recycling.
  • Our ambassadors also put MotoGP fans to the test with our recycling quiz, resulting in some great conversations and leaving people with nuggets of drink can recycling knowledge to take away with them after the event.

Stendhal Festival

In July we returned to Stendhal Festival in Limavady, Northern Ireland. Our recycling ambassadors roamed the festival, equipped with their recycling backpacks and recycling quizzes. We also brought our iconic ‘I Heart Recycling’ can cages to the festival to inspire everyone to recycle their empty cans. These quirky recycling bins never fail to fill up quickly at festivals, thanks to their eye-catching shapes and colourful designs!

Working in Partnership with Drink Brands

We’ve had a busy summer working with our brand partners to spread the recycling message even further and increase recycling rates at festivals and events.

Pernod Ricard UK

Back in May, we announced our new partnership with Pernod Ricard UK. Throughout the summer we’ve teamed up with two of their drink brands, Absolut UK and Malibu UK, to raise awareness about the importance of can recycling and encourage everyone at the events we attended to recycle their empty cans.

Events with Absolut UK
  • Mighty Hoopla: Alongside our International Recycling Tour, our team worked with Absolut to collect cans and spread the recycling message by dancing, singing and generally getting into the fabulous spirit of Mighty Hoopla!
  • Brighton Pride: Our recycling ambassadors marched proudly alongside the Pride Parade in Brighton and continued to take their enthusiasm for drink can recycling into Fabuloso In The Park!
Events with Malibu UK
  • Elrow Town, London: Despite the rain, our ambassadors had a blast at Elrow Town and managed to engage the crowds with their usual charm and passion for drink can recycling.
  • We Are FSTVL: Our team donned their backpacks for one last time this summer at We Are FSTVL – and thankfully the weather was on their side this time! The team roamed the festival site spreading the Every Can Counts message with their co-branded Malibu recycling backpacks.

Red Bull

Our long-standing partners at Red Bull have been working with us to ensure attendees at their brand events can easily recycle their empty cans. As well as providing Every Can Counts bins for use at Red Bull events, we also sent a couple of our can cages up to Edinburgh for Red Bull Contested in June – ensuring both gamers and fans knew exactly what to do with their empty cans!

British Summer Time Festival with Most Wanted Wines

Our ambassadors attended BST Hyde Park in partnership with our new brand partners Most Wanted Wines. Our team really made every can count at the festival, and all the Most Wanted cans we collected have been saved for an upcoming art installation… Watch this space!

All Points East with White Claw

We sent one of our iconic can cages to London’s All Points East festival in partnership with White Claw Hard Seltzer. Our can cage helped to brighten up everyone’s bank holiday weekend and ensure that festival-goers could recycle their cans in Victoria Park.

Big Feastival with Canned Wine Co.

To round off our summer season, we had a presence at Big Feastival in partnership with Canned Wine Company. After enjoying a delicious can of wine, festival-goers were able to recycle their empty cans into one of our can recycling backpacks or our green ‘Recycling Swoosh’ can cage!

How Can You Get Involved?

If you came across the Every Can Counts team out and about this summer and are now feeling inspired to make a difference, here’s a reminder of a few things you can do to make your empty cans count:

  1. Recycle your drink cans while you’re out and about. If there is no recycling bin around, hold on to your cans until you find one, or take them home and recycle them there.
  2. If you’re camping or picnicking in the great outdoors, bring some bags with you so you can separate your recycling from your general waste.  
  3. If you work or volunteer at an organisation with no drink can recycling facilities in place, we can help you do something about it! Set up a can collection point by requesting a free Every Can Counts starter pack here.
  4. Help us spread the Every Can Counts message! Remember that aluminium recycles forever, and drink cans have the potential to go around the recycling loop in just 60 days. Help us get the word out there to those who don’t know and encourage everyone to recycle their cans on-the-go!

Together we can create a greener festival and event environment and continue to make progress on our journey towards a 100% drink can recycling rate. We’ll see you next summer for another season of good music, sunshine, and recycling fun – and until then, remember to make your cans count!

  • Phoebe Kelly

Recycling In Style For World Environment Day At Mighty Hoopla

Recycling In Style For World Environment Day At Mighty Hoopla 2560 1707 Phoebe Kelly

To mark World Environment Day on the 5th June, we attended Mighty Hoopla festival as part of the third #EveryCanCounts International Recycling Tour!

What is the International Recycling Tour?

The International Recycling Tour is an awareness campaign which aims to mark World Environment Day and champion sustainable living, whilst encouraging people to keep outdoor public spaces clean and to recycle their empty drink cans wherever they go.

This year’s initiative took place simultaneously in 16 countries including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.  

The theme for 2023 revolved around each participating country designing and displaying a PixelCan installation in a public space to encourage everyone to do the right thing and recycle their drink cans!

Click here to learn more about the International Recycling Tour.

Iconic Recycling at Mighty Hoopla Festival

As part of the International Recycling tour in the UK, we unveiled a nature-inspired installation at pop music festival, Mighty Hoopla, in London’s Brockwell Park.

Made up of 2,000 drink cans, the PixelCan artwork featured tiger eyes designed to have a ‘watching effect’ over festival goers to encourage them to do the right thing and recycle their drink cans.

In addition to the PixelCan artwork, eight of Every Can Counts’ dedicated ambassadors also helped to raise awareness of the importance of recycling by spreading the ‘aluminium recycles forever’ message.

We never knew that there were so many different ways to recycle your drink can – from voguing to death drops, the possibilities were endless… much like the infinite recyclability of aluminium!

What we Had to Say About the International Recycling Tour!

Chris Latham-Warde, Programme Manager for Every Can Counts UK and Ireland, said: “From the banks of the Danube in Vienna and Budapest to Brixton in London, this year’s International Recycling Tour will see our signature PixelCan innovation pop up in iconic locations across the world. Not only will the pixelated mural captivate viewers from a distance, but it will also act as a symbol of the infinite possibilities of aluminium recycling, which is the message we’re trying to spread across the UK and beyond this World Environment Day.”

David Van Heuverswyn, Director of Every Can Counts Europe, added: “By coming together to celebrate World Environment Day and embracing the endless potential of aluminium recycling, we aim to inspire behaviour change and help reach 100% can recycling in Europe and beyond. That’s why we are inviting everyone — consumers, local authorities, brands, and event organisers — to join forces and find better ways to recycle on-the-go, while having fun doing so.”

Enter your
text here