- One man’s garbage can indeed be another one’s treasure.
Recycling can be an easy and effective way to help the environment, but people tend to need a bit of incentive to start recycling. To this end, many places have some kind of return-and-earn scheme for drink cans and bottles.
The compensation usually isn’t much — a few cents per can — but it’s something. And if you’re dedicated, you can make a decent bit of money from recycling.
Just like Damian Gordon did.
The 36-year-old Australian started picking up empty cans during his walks on the beach. He never intended to do it for money, and just wanted to keep his beauty spot beautiful.
After collecting cans from a music festival, however, Gordon realized he earned several thousand dollars in just a single day. That sparked the idea that he could recycle his way into a home of his own.
Seven years later, he put down the deposit for a house, earned by returning empty cans. Although he reached his goal, Gordon’s not planning to stop recycling.
He now has mortgage payments to make, after all.
Humble Beginnings
Damian Gordon lives in Australia’s New South Wales. Working in the healthcare industry, he’s often stressed and needs a bit of a breather.
To calm his mind, he often goes for walks on the beach. However, in 2014, he started noticing a problem — his favorite beach was always full of discarded cans and bottles.
“It was impossible to ignore all the rubbish left behind by other beach-goers,” Gordon told That’s Life.
“Plastic bottles and cans — even fishing gear — were scattered across the shoreline. I can’t leave it like this, I decided.”
So, he started picking up trash on his walks. At this point, he didn’t have any grander goal in mind apart from making the beach he loved prettier, while also giving the environment a helping hand.
A Haul to Remember
In addition to working in healthcare and going to the beach, Gordon is an avid amateur DJ. In 2014, he and his friends started a local music festival, which became successful enough to go on for several years.
By 2017, Gordon had transitioned from a performer to the event’s waste disposal manager. By the end of that year’s event, his team of volunteers had collected around 40,000 cans and bottles.
Gordon recycled the trash through New South Wales’ “Return and Earn” program. The recycling scheme pays people 10 cents for each eligible returned item.
It doesn’t sound like much for one can, but Gordon had much, much more than that.
“I was amazed to walk away with a whopping $4000 for our recycling efforts,” he said.
The hefty stack of cash gave birth to an idea. At the time, Gordon lived at his mother’s house, and while he was grateful for her, he dreamed of his own home.
So, he told his mom he had a plan to get out of her hair. He would recycle his way into buying a house.
Raking It In
Gordon’s own music festival took place only once a year, so he needed to find more places to collect precious trash. Lucky for him, it didn’t take long for news about his plan to check in the local community, and people wanted to help.
Residents started calling Gordon and letting him know about upcoming events — weddings, birthdays, and so on — and asking whether he would like to come pick up recyclable cans and bottles. Others went even further, picking up the garbage themselves and donating it to Gordon.
He started making monthly trips to his local Return and Earn station, each time netting something above $400. Gordon put every penny into a new savings account he opened and, within three years, he’d saved $20,000.
“It spurred me on to keep going. For the next five years, whenever I clocked off work, I’d go around the area picking up discarded bottles and cans,” he said.
Home Sweet Home
Fast-forward to January 2025. At that point, Gordon recycling savings account contained a sum of $45,000.
He decided the time had come. He combined the amount with some of his other savings and put down a deposit payment.
Now, Gordon has his own two-bedroom house. It’s plenty big enough for him, and it was paid for (mostly) in garbage.
Gordon has continued his recycling-oriented lifestyle when furnishing the house. He said his refrigerator, microwave, bed frame, and even juicer are stuff he picked up either off the street or from a donor.
Yet, he still keeps collecting cans and bottles like he has done for all these years. Instead of saving the money, though, he’s putting it toward his mortgage repayments.
“I’m paying off my dream home, one bottle at a time,” said Gordon.