The BANCO SOCIAL DE LATAS was born in 2021 from an alliance between Kyklos, company B of environmental culture and Metalum, the leading aluminum recycling company in Chile. In 2022, in order to amplify the impact of the project, Ball, a world-renowned manufacturer of sustainable aluminum packaging, will join the project as a promoter.
With its first campaign, in 2021, the banco social de latas succeeded in remodeling the kitchen of a home of Fundación Las Rosas, an organization that houses 2,200 senior citizens. In 2022, the second phase of the project will begin, in which it seeks to benefit a highly vulnerable educational institution with a free play area built by Fundación Patio Vivo.
Nearly 70% of all aluminum beverage cans worldwide are recycled, making aluminum the most recycled beverage container on the planet. However, Chile is far from this number, reaching only 33%. In Chile, every year more than 15,000 tons of cans end up in landfills, which could be valued at approximately 20,000,000 dollars. This is why the banco social de latas was created, an initiative that seeks to increase the recycling rate by encouraging the habit from the new generations and through environmental education in schools.
Specifically, they seek to surpass last year’s collection goal and support Fundación Patio Vivo in the implementation of Learning Landscapes in schools, colleges and kindergartens in vulnerable contexts. With the slogan ‘Don’t be a nuisance to recycle your can’, 500 schools have already taken on the challenge of collecting as many cans as possible and are also receiving a Kyklos environmental education program on recycling and circular economy.
Sebastián Herceg, Corporate Affairs Manager at Kyklos, points out that “At Kyklos we believe that solutions come from collaborative work. Our goal is to contribute with innovative projects and virtuous alliances to the circular economy; and the banco social de latas allows us to advance in recycling and environmental culture, also generating a social impact through the support of a foundation”.
Estevao Braga, Ball’s Director of Sustainability in Latin America adds that “we are leaders in the production of the most sustainable packaging in the world, which are aluminum beverage cans, and it is our goal to move forward with this responsible mentality about the environment and conscious consumption. This alliance with the banco social de latas is fundamental so that we can bring Chile closer to global levels of can recycling, and promote the creation of a recycling culture for new generations”.
