Aluminium cans returned to SPAR serve a good cause

Shoppers can support the summer holiday camps for disabled and poor children by returning cans to SPAR as part of the joint programme between the store chain, Returnpack, and the Charity Service of the Order of Malta called ‘Every Can Counts’.

SPAR customers can help significantly reduce environmental pressure and simultaneously support the holidays of children in need if they return used aluminium cans to the purpose-built machines. The store chain has partnered with the Hungarian Maltese charity Service for more than 25 years, helping people in need not only during festive seasons but year-round. From 31 March 2022 there will be a new opportunity to help those in need, thanks to this new initiative which focuses on sustainability as much as on social responsibility. The organisers ask shoppers to return household waste aluminium cans to the machines in the participating SPAR and INTERSPAR stores and choose the donation option at the end of the return process to make sure that the value of the cans will go towards charity.

“Thanks to the partnership with the organisers of the All Cans Count campaign we will not only reduce waste by placing aluminium cans in communal bins or preferably in selective bins, but also donate to charity by returning them to the machines at SPAR’s selected stores. The saying little streams make great rivers is very true, and we hope that we can make many children’s vacation a memorable one in the summer camps organised by the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service.  More than 320 tons and approximately 20 million cans were returned by shoppers to the 30 available machines in 2021, which is close to 2% of all aluminium cans currently on the Hungarian market. We trust that many shoppers will donate the return fees towards this charity,” said Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary.

“Children living in poverty or with disabilities are deprived of opportunities for various reasons. Their young years are spent very differently to their more privileged peers. The equality programmes organised by the Maltese Charity primarily target these children to try and prevent them from having to grow up too early. By returning and donating the price of the aluminium cans, shoppers give these children experiences which they probably would not have access to otherwise,” said Tamás Romhányi, head of communications of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.

 “Returnpack installed the first aluminium can return machine at the INTERSPAR hypermarket on Sibrik Miklós út in Budapest in the spring of 2010. This was followed by more than 30 new machines all over the country, mainly at INTERSPAR stores. Every year, shoppers return an average of 20 million cans to these machines. Approximately 220 million aluminium cans weighing 3.5 tonnes have been returned and recycled over the course of the 12-year partnership. This amount has reduced the emission of greenhouse gases by 14 000 tonnes. During this partnership, the amount of returned and recycled cans resulted in saving the yearly energy supply of 55 000 people – which equals the population of Zalaegerszeg, Békéscsaba, or Eger,” explained Péter Vida, representative of All Cans Count in Hungary. Returnpack’s environmentally-friendly operation collects and recycles almost 70 million cans a year, which is more than 1000 tonnes of aluminium. They are a member of the Every Can Counts program which is a not-for-profit initiative working towards advancing the recycling of aluminium cans in 19 countries across Europe and Brazil.

Please find details of the initiative on the following website: https://everycancounts.eu/hu/adomany/

The list of participating SPAR and INTERSPAR stores is available through the following link: https://www.sparafenntarthatojovoert.hu/szelektiv-hulladek