The New York City company called Sure We Can is an organization that calls itself "a recycling center, community space, and sustainability hub."
A Brooklyn nonprofit redeems about one million cans and bottles each month, keeping them out of landfills.
The New York City company called Sure We Can is an organization that calls itself "a recycling center, community space, and sustainability hub."
Its mission is to support the canners, the people who make a living collecting bottles and cans.
The number of canners has increased and the company’s executive director, Ryan Castelia, told WCBS, "In 2022, we had 900 people visit our center. Last year, we had 1,200."
He says that the organization gives canners "an atmosphere of dignity, respect, compassion and community,” adding, “The people who end up as canners often experience some degree of intense marginality, like because of where they come from, the language they speak, their physical or mental abilities, their age.”
In New York State, a piece of legislation nicknamed the “Bigger Better Bottle Bill” would raise the 5 cent deposit on bottles and cans to 10 cents. Castelia says this would increase the income for the people who collect and recycle for a living, which is a number that in recent years has grown.
“We're talking about the American Dream kind of here, like people coming here and finding ways to participate, ways to work that benefit us all,” Castelia said.
According to the New York Public Interest Research Group, there has been a 75% decrease in littering since the nickel deposit took effect.
Sure We Can has expanded its services to include educating students, composting, and a communal garden.
