NEW YORK — Mountains of empty beverage containers tower stories high above Bushwick. Beer, soda and water bottles are everywhere you look.
Sure We Can is a non-profit recycling center and community space. The organization’s goal is to support canners, people who collect returnable bottles and cans to support their livelihoods.
The center offers an “atmosphere of dignity, respect, compassion and community”
Executive Director Ryan Castelia said the organization was founded in 2007 by homeless people who turned to this type of work.
“People who end up as canners often experience a certain degree of marginalization, for example because of their origins, the language they speak, their physical or mental abilities, their age,” Castelia explains.
He said it is the only space of its kind in the state: a redemption and community center, a place to sort the collected material and a place to store the collected material.
“The Canners were able to exchange their material easily, transparently and consistently in an atmosphere of dignity, respect, compassion and community,” Castelia said.
According to the organization, approximately 1 million bottles are collected each month, preventing them from ending up on the streets, in landfills or in the water.
More and more people are becoming canners
Castelia said he has noticed a sharp increase in the number of people doing this work in recent years. The center attributes the increase in part to an increase in migrants trying to earn money while waiting for work permits.
“In 2022, we’ll have 900 people come through our center. Last year, we had 1,200,” he said. “We’re talking about the American Dream, people coming here and finding ways to engage, ways to work that benefit all of us and lift us all up as a shared, diverse community.”
Josefa Marin is a full-time canner and president of the Canner’s Association.
In an interview translated from Spanish, she explained that she has been doing this for more than 20 years.
“It’s very difficult. We have to work very hard to find the material, to collect it, to transport it, to get it where it needs to be. But yes, it is possible. I mean, for example, in 2003, 2004, 2005, I used this work to send my daughter to college,” she said.
The organization is advocating for an increase in the 5 cent deposit to better cover the cost of living and support the community that does this work.
Have an idea for a story or a tip in Brooklyn? Send Hannah an email by CLICKING HERE.
