Europe

This April, fans of the urban scene flocked to the tenth and jubilee edition of the 2HOT4STAGE festival, set against the vibrant backdrop of the Port of Belgrade. From April 11–13, 2025, the city pulsed with music, energy, and creativity as artists, performers, and festival-goers came together for three unforgettable days of entertainment.

Amidst the electric atmosphere, our initiative, Svaka limenka se računa, brought the event a refreshing and meaningful dimension. With engaging, hands-on activities, our team encouraged young festival-goers to think differently about recycling and take their first steps in the can recycling journey—proving that sustainability can be fun, inspiring, and an integral part of urban culture.

A standout feature of the activation was the Every Can Counts PixelCan, an eye-catching art installation made from used drink cans. Right on-site, local artists transformed this metallic canvas into a powerful visual experience, using creativity to convey the importance of recycling. Complementing this, our recycling ambassadors moved through the crowd, helping visitors recycle their empty drink cans and making sure they reached the right place—the recycling stream.

The buzz didn’t stop there. Festival trophies, made from recycled aluminium drink cans using our custom-built VulCan machine, captured everyone’s attention. These unique prizes were more than just awards—they were statements of creativity and sustainability. Even before the festival kicked off, the spotlight was on recycling with a dramatic aluminium-melting demonstration at Dorćol Platz, one of Belgrade’s most beloved cultural hubs. The event not only turned heads but also highlighted the full recycling loop to a broad audience.

While music took centre stage, the festival offered much more—dance battles, rap clashes, beat-making sessions, a tattoo corner, and graffiti zones ensured there was never a dull moment. Threaded through it all was our message: recycling can be bold, fun, artistic, and seamlessly woven into modern culture.

Festivalgoers at St Patrick’s Park over St Patrick’s Day weekend (15th and 16th March) were treated to the dazzling sight of a giant rainbow installation created from recycled drink cans.

The eye-catching structure, created by our Irinish chapter in partnership with Loreto College, was designed to shine a light on the power of recycling. Made from over 1,500 recycled cans, the installation returned for a second year following its success in 2024, reinforcing the message that recycling plays a crucial role in protecting our planet.

Over 20 recycling ambassadors, including the ‘Canny Mascot’ dressed head to toe in more than 300 cans in the colours of the Irish flag, also engaged with festivalgoers to spread the word about the importance of recycling.

The ambassadors, including 15 pupils from Loreto College, spent the weekend collecting cans in their recycling backpacks, with the deposit value of these cans donated to Capuchin Day Centre, a local charity that helps those experiencing homelessness, providing them with shelter, hot meals, food parcels, medical services, counselling, and shower facilities.   

Chris Latham-Warde, Programme Manager for Every Can Counts Ireland, said: “It’s been great to partner with St Patrick’s Festival and pupils from Loreto College for the second year in a row to brighten the skies of Dublin with our rainbow installation.

“By playing a part in the fabulous St Patrick’s Day Festival, we hope our installation has not only added some extra colour to celebrations, but also inspired people to think about the benefits of recycling their drink cans.  

“Aluminium is infinitely recyclable, and every empty drink can could be recycled and back on a shop shelf in as little as 60 days. The people of Dublin and Ireland can all play their part in this process by ensuring they recycle all of their used drink cans by returning them via the Deposit Return Scheme.”

For the third consecutive year, our Spanish chapter, Cada Lata Cuenta, has partnered with the Cádiz City Council and local associations to promote sustainability during Carnaval de Cádiz, one of Spain’s most renowned carnivals.

To encourage recycling, over 70 additional recycling points in the city’s most popular squares, making it easier for festival-goers to dispose of waste correctly.

Our recycling ambassadors actively engaged with the crowd, reminding people to keep public spaces clean and recycle their drink cans wherever they were celebrating. Their efforts helped raise awareness about the importance of recycling, especially during large public events like Carnival.

In addition, our team conducted surveys on recycling habits outside the home, gathering valuable insights into public attitudes toward sustainability.

“Our goal is to achieve 100% can recycling during Carnival. Cans are one of the most sustainable and easy-to-recycle packaging options. By simply placing them in the yellow bin, we can guarantee their recycling—a small effort with a big environmental impact.”
— Pablo García, PhD in Ecology and Director of Cada Lata Cuenta in Spain

This initiative, in collaboration with the Cádiz City Council, continues strengthening the recycling culture, proving that sustainability and celebration can go hand in hand.

Watch the highlights

Festivals and sustainability don’t often go hand in hand, but our Greek chapter, Kathe Kouti Metrai, proves otherwise. In a powerful collaboration with the Athenian Brewery, the programme’s innovative drink can recycling solutions have expanded into the Greek carnival season, bringing more sustainable celebrations to two of Greece’s most famous carnivals: The Carnival of Xanthi and the Carnival of Rethymno.

Xanthi Carnival

As Greece’s second-largest carnival, Xanthi Carnival attracts thousands of visitors ready to enjoy the festivities. The event welcomed our recycling ambassadors for a second year, who actively engaged with the crowd to encourage responsible waste disposal. Working alongside the Municipality of Xanthi, Kathe Kouti Metrai aimed to simplify and promote the separate collection of drink cans, ensuring that sustainability remained a central theme throughout the event.

One of the standout features of this activation was the installation of giant metal letter bins spelling out ‘ΞΑΝΘΗ’ strategically placed near the main stage. These striking installations served as recycling points and became iconic photo spots, combining environmental awareness with carnival culture. Throughout the grand parade, our recycling ambassadors moved through the crowds with their signature backpacks, making it easy for locals and tourists to recycle their drink cans on the go. The impact of this initiative grows beyond the event since each can recycled at the carnival can be back on the shelf within 60 days, contributing to a more sustainable future.

Rethymno Carnival

Over on the island of Crete, Kathe Kouti Metrai marked the third consecutive year of collaboration with the Municipality of Rethymnon, solidifying efforts to reduce the event’s environmental footprint. During the carnival’s grand parade, a dedicated team of recycling ambassadors ensured that festival-goers could enjoy the festivities while easily recycling their drink cans on the go. In addition to the recycling efforts, our team educated people on the long-term benefits of aluminium recycling, emphasizing its key role in energy conservation and natural resource preservation—recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy required to produce new cans from raw materials.

One of the most striking features of the Rethymno Carnival was the installation of giant metal letter bins spelling out #RETHYMNO along the old city’s seaside. The installation not only serves as a recycling station but also stands out as a powerful symbol of aluminium’s infinite possibilities. The impact of this initiative extends well beyond the carnival itself; the #RETHYMNO installation will remain in the city as a permanent recycling station, representing a practical solution and a testament to how small, mindful actions can lead to a real change.

For the second year in a row, our Every Can Counts U.S. initiative teamed up with the New Orleans Office of Resilience & Sustainability, Grounds Krewe and other local organizations for the Recycle Dat! campaign.

Recycle Dat! is a community-wide effort to make Mardi Gras more sustainable by providing convenient recycling options along the parade route at designated recycling hubs and through partnership programmes, including the Every Can Counts PixelCan installation created by local New Orleans artist Erika Moore. The art installation depicted the recycling chasing arrows symbol in Mardi Gras-themed purple, yellow and green colours.

All the used aluminium cans collected along the Mardi Gras routes will be taken to the EMR Metal Recycling‘s Mid-City location, which will pay the market rate for the cans. Every Can Counts U.S. will also match the revenue generated and all proceeds will support three local charities: Grow Dat Youth Farm, S.O.U.L. and T.R.E.E. Nola.

Last year, this initiative raised approximately $3,000 and collected approximately 145,000 cans. We aim to surpass this goal with a bigger Mardi Gras activation and presence that includes a festival celebration called Recycle World, which is located on the Uptown Parade routes.

This year, the programme was featured in national media, including BBC Travel, Travel & Leisure  Magazine, NPR Radio, and The Associated Press. This year’s event also more than doubled the Every Can Counts U.S. Instagram followers thanks to fun and engaging contests, viral influencer partnerships, and geotargeted advertising.

Aluminium beverage cans recorded an increase in the tonnes of aluminium recycled, up to 580,000 tonnes, saving 5.4 million tonnes CO2eq[1]

The latest report by Metal Packaging Europe and European Aluminium shows that the overall recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans in the European Union, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland was 75% (74.6%). Although a slight drop (1%), the total amount of aluminium recycled from cans continued to increase to a record level of 580,000 tonnes, an increase of 10,000 tonnes (or 1.7%) on the previous year. This represents a total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions saving of 5.4 million tonnes of CO2eq (equivalent to the annual amount of GHG produced by a European city of more than half a million inhabitants like Oslo or Genoa. [2]

The increase in recycled aluminium volume reflects a higher overall consumption of aluminium beverage cans in 2022 which resulted in more cans entering the recycling stream. However, a stable collection and sorting level meant that the recycling rate percentage decreased slightly due to the larger rise in total can production and consumption.

Beverage can manufacturers (members of Metal Packaging Europe) and their aluminium suppliers (members of European Aluminium) remain resolved to increase the recycling rate at European level. However, the evidence is clear that without improved national collection and sorting infrastructure, specifically increases in the number of Deposit Return Systems, EU Member States will struggle to reach 90% recycling or more.

The newly appointed Director of the Packaging Group at European Aluminium, Andy Doran, commented, “Our continuing high recycling rates demonstrate our ongoing push for improvement. The recent results also show that this is a marathon, not a sprint. 2022 marked the beginning of a new phase of implementation for several Deposit Return Systems and as these schemes mature, recycling rates will grow further. But there is no time to waste, as our member companies continue to grow and invest in expanded recycling capacities in Europe and rely on increased high-quality scrap for recycling within the European circular economy”.

“We are pleased with the latest achievements and believe the industry remains on the right long-term path towards 100% circularity of aluminium beverage cans by 2050. Aluminium is a ‘permanent’ material, which means that it can be recycled multiple times through high quality recycling processes without losing its inherent properties. Following the recent adoption of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, we encourage Member States to implement well balanced and efficient Deposit Return Systems to help move to a fully circular solution for the aluminium beverage can via ‘can-to-can’ recycling,” said Krassimira Kazashka, CEO of Metal Packaging Europe

The map provides a detailed overview of aluminium beverage can recycling rates by country in 2022.

[1] Based on calculation of the GHG savings through Used Beverage Can (UBC) recycling using the substitution method, i.e. avoided primary production net of UBC remelting ,Data from European Aluminium Environmental Profile Report 2024 (Year 2021 data)

[2] If a yearly GHG emission of 9,2 tonnes is assumed per EU citizen as used in the Product Environmental Footprint methodology, see Normalisation method and data for Environmental Footprints – Deliverable 2 of the AA Environmental Footprint and Material Efficiency Support for Product Policy (No. 70307/2012/ENV.C.1/635340)

Chaque Canette Compte, our French chapter, debuted at TECH&FEST, the exciting new tech show in Grenoble, in partnership with Citeo. This event marked a significant milestone as we joined forces with key aluminium manufacturers—including Aluminium France, Constellium, Novelis, TRIMET France SAS, and Rio Tinto—to showcase the entire aluminium recycling loop, from production to can recycling.

At our team’s booth, visitors gained a deeper understanding of the infinite recyclability of aluminium and the role that innovation plays in making the recycling process more efficient and sustainable. The strong interest from industry stakeholders and attendees reinforced the growing commitment to sustainability within the region, making TECH&FEST an ideal platform to promote circular economy solutions.

Building on the momentum from TECH&FEST and other past initiatives—collecting cans on beaches, lakes, overseas French territories, major cities, and at large sporting events—Chaque Canette Compte is now setting its sights on a new frontier: the mountains. With winter sports enthusiasts gathering in ski resorts across France, this provides an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about recycling in high-altitude environments.

In 2026, Chaque Canette Compte will launch a Recycling Tour in ski resorts, bringing Every Can Counts’ mission to encourage drink can recycling to some of France’s most iconic winter destinations. As the movement expands to new terrains, our team aims to engage visitors, businesses, and local communities in making aluminium recycling a natural part of their experience.

Christmas is a season of joy and giving—giving back to our loved ones and to the environment. It’s also a perfect moment to reflect on something bigger: the health of our planet, our shared home. That’s the real gift: every can you recycle is actually the meaning of giving back to yourself and the environment. Recycling drink cans may seem like a small act, but when done collectively, it’s an efficient way to reduce waste, save resources, and protect the environment.

Aluminium is endlessly recyclable. Every can you recycle can return as a new can in just 60 days and its life cycle lasts forever, just like the spirit of the holidays. This festive season, as countless drink cans pop open in celebration, here’s a jolly reminder: Recycle them all, wherever you are. Let’s enjoy the moment while moving closer to a more sustainable future for everyone. Let’s make this season one of hope and meaningful change. Let’s #KeeptheCycleGoing

From all of us at Every Can Counts, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2024 Rewind

As 2024 comes to a close, we’re celebrating a year of the most memorable moments. Across 21 countries worldwide, our teams elevated recycling efforts to new heights, sharing inspiring stories that recycle forever. Looking ahead to 2025, we’re ready to welcome fresh ideas and innovative recycling solutions to bring us closer to our vision of 100% drink can recycling. Together, we’re making every can, everywhere, count.

Our initiative in the UK revealed a brand-new PixelCan design in collaboration with Keep Scotland Beautiful and the University of Strathclyde.

The installation was designed to educate students on the lifecycle of aluminium cans. Keep Scotland Beautiful’s 2024 Scottish Litter Survey, published earlier this month, found that more than half of people surveyed (63%) see drink cans littered very or somewhat often – meaning they aren’t being captured for recycling.

Students voted for their favourite artwork out of four via an in-person vote at the university in October and a poll on Instagram. After deciding on the design of a Colourful Cow, around 2,000 cans were used to create the piece of artwork at Rottenrow Gardens on the university grounds on Wednesday 20 November.

Heather McLaughlin, Campaigns and Social Innovation Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful said: “This fun and creative stunt aimed to encourage students to think more about recycling and the life cycle of a can.

“We know there is a high recycling rate at the university but our latest Scottish Litter Survey has shown just how often people spot cans as litter across the country so there is still work to be done to encourage more people to dispose of their litter correctly – ensuring precious resources are captured and brought back to use in another form.

“It was really inspiring to see so many students take part in this stunt. Eighty-two per cent of people want to see more efforts to prevent litter and we’re determined to continue trying new, innovative methods to support the country’s desire for positive change.”

Chris Latham-Warde, Every Can Counts Programme Manager – UK & Ireland, said: “We were delighted to bring our PixelCan art installation to Scotland for the first time as part of Keep Scotland Beautiful’s ongoing behaviour change campaign at the University of Strathclyde.

“The colourful Highland Cow design was created from 2,000 hand-painted recycled cans, showing students that while each individual can is small, they come together to form a much bigger picture. And when it comes to recycling, the bigger environmental picture is, of course, what we want students to keep in mind. Drink cans are made from aluminium, which has the potential to be recycled forever, but this only happens if we keep the material in circulation by putting our empty cans in a recycling bin.”

This campaign is part of a range of interventions at the University of Strathclyde – including the introduction of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs), campaign messaging and campus-based focus groups – by Keep Scotland Beautiful, funded by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, to encourage positive behaviour change.

These interventions follow a previous collaboration between the charity, Clackmannanshire Council, Falkirk Council, Stirling Council and Forth Valley College which was funded in-part by CCEP (Coca-Cola Europacific Partners) earlier in the year, developed as part of Keep Scotland Beautiful’s actions to support the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy (NLFS) Year 1 Action Plan.

The aluminium drink can recycling partnership kicked off in Arkansas and brings five circularity sites to four states with cash payouts for participants.

Our chapter, Every Can Counts U.S., in partnership with Replenysh, announced today the launch of a new community-driven recycling programme to increase recovery of aluminium drink cans.

The Cans for Cash programme, which launched in Blytheville, Arkansas, will soon add four more Circularity Centers in Florida, Illinois, and Mississippi. Cans for Cash targets communities near major waterways with limited or no recycling access. The initiative aims to boost recycling, reduce litter and landfill waste, and enhance local economies with direct cash payouts for participants who recycle empty aluminium drink cans.

“This is an impact-driven programme that will increase recycling and access points near major American waterways. This partnership will also make significant investments within local communities that lack curbside recycling,” said Scott Breen, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Can Manufacturers Institute, the association supporting the Every Can Counts U.S. chapter. “Our innovative model leverages the power of technology, community engagement, and the high market value of used aluminium beverage cans to drive impact, including direct payouts for the program’s participants.”

Globally, aluminum recycling is 95% less carbon intensive than primary aluminum production. In addition to empty aluminum beverage cans, community members can bring PET #1 plastic bottles for recycling, however, payment will only be provided for recycled aluminum. America Recycles Day as a way to demonstrate how aluminium drink cans help sustain the U.S. recycling system and promote the circular economy in action. Blytheville residents who drop off empty drink cans will receive payment from the Cans for Cash Circularity Center after being weighed on-site.

“The Cans for Cash programme is a self-sustaining recycling model and will help fund future recycling efforts. The city of Blytheville is honoured to work with Replenysh, and Every Can Counts U.S. on this critical circularity project,” said Blytheville Mayor Melisa Logan. “Activating our recycling potential, igniting a circular economy, and improving recycling behaviour has been a goal of our city for years. This partnership gives our city a strategy that we hope produces big recycling gains for every resident in our community. Our new Cans for Cash Circularity Center will increase consumer awareness and incentivize a recycling model that can be easily replicated in communities across America.”

Replenysh, the circularity platform that implemented the programme, will manage Blytheville’s ongoing technology and network operations and track the results of the Cans for Cash Circularity Center using an impact report.

“Many communities today are underserved by recycling and are looking for a solution they can trust. We are excited to be working with Every Can Counts U.S. as the circularity partner to provide much-needed recycling infrastructure to cities and their residents,” said Mark Armen, Founder and CEO at Replenysh. “The City of Blytheville can now leverage our tools and network to monetize materials and drive value to residents in a new way. As we expand these Cans for Cash Circularity Centers to additional states, we also will capture more high-quality feedstock for U.S. industry.”