Two Million Cans

January 24, 2021 11:58 AM

Gary Gates, 82, managed a multibillion dollar pension fund for the state of Wisconsin until he retired in 1993. Since then, he has recycled two million cans. He bikes around Madison from dumpster to dumpster, collecting cans. (Student apartments on fraternity-dense Langdon St. are the richest source.) He also moves cardboard and glass he finds in trash cans to recycling bins, and non-recyclables from the recycling bins to the trash. Most of his clothes come from dumpsters. He and his wife give tens of thousands of dollars to charity every year.
posted by escabeche (17 comments total)

I think they profiled him on the show "The Good Place."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:02 PM on January 24, 2021 [9 favorites]

Love it.

There's an organization I've been following on Instagram called "Tuesdays for Trash" (Insta.) which was started during the pandemic. My daughter and I have done a couple trash walks in our neighborhood. Mostly we just go around the few blocks around our house. She has a great eye and we end up chatting about all the boring things we find and the occasional interesting things. I like to faux-scream, "MICROPLASTICS!!! AUGHHH!" when she finds small plastic shards. Sadly, I encourage leaving cigarette butts but we do get ones that are obvious and annoying. But if we tried to get them all, we'd never get home again. I'm thinking of getting some grabbers this year and encouraging the neighborhood folks to get involved. We bring old BBQ tongs and chopsticks (and gloves and a plastic bottle in case we find sharps).

We also always leave our recyclable cans and bottles out on nights other than pickup nights so that folks who want them can take them. There are a range of pickers out there.
posted by amanda at 12:25 PM on January 24, 2021 [7 favorites]

I think they profiled him on the show "The Good Place."

Savage but true. God rest ye, Doug Forcett.
posted by MiraK at 1:17 PM on January 24, 2021 [5 favorites]

I kinda was able to guess you live in Portland before I clicked your username.

Which Portland, though? amanda's statement could apply to either!
posted by eviemath at 1:43 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

I used to carefully pick up syringes and take them to the nearby pharmacy when I worked down in Old Ballard. Sadly,now there's just too many everywhere for that. Good on this guy though.
posted by Windopaene at 1:54 PM on January 24, 2021

In California that is $.05 per can. That's $100,000, about $3,700.00 per year. I wonder how many hours he spends?
posted by Oyéah at 2:58 PM on January 24, 2021

Even without a deposit system in place cans being nearly pure aluminum are worth money as scrap. 24 to 31 cans make up a pound and aluminum can scrap value varies a lot but is somewhere between $0.05 and $2 per pound. When Aluminum price is high there is more money in scrap than a nickel deposit.
posted by Mitheral at 3:56 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

so if people don't have to worry about being able to pay for food, rent, and other basics, they'll spend their time doing things to help their community?
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:10 PM on January 24, 2021 [18 favorites]

"The price he gets fluctuates, but Gates said he averages 1 to 2 cents per can and makes about $500 per year. ... Gates said he averages about a dollar an hour gathering cans. 'I'm not doing it for the money,' he said, adding that bike maintenance can wipe out his earnings. He said major repairs last year cost $350."
posted by gueneverey at 4:26 PM on January 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

There are apparently 11 states that take bottle/can deposits and thus pay out for returns. Given that aluminum and glass are the most recyclable, why isn’t this a national program? Maybe it’s time Wisconsin put in a bill named after this guy and his wife?

Support any sharps disposal/free and clean syringe distribution in your community! Here in Portland, there is a metro reporter website where you can report all kinds of things and someone will come clean it up. But if you can dispose of safely and carefully, consider it. I always worry about doggie paws so if I can clean up, I will. The most worrisome diseases don’t last forever on a syringe. Here’s a good sense approach from Australia about what to do if you find one-link.
posted by amanda at 5:46 PM on January 24, 2021

needs the hero ♥ tag. Aluminum is filthy to mine but can be recycled a lot of times; it's a fine thing to ensure that it stays out of garbage. I went for a hike last week and need to go back with bags and gloves; litter is a pox on the landscape. Maine has a bottle/can bill (why does every state have different deposits? I mean, c'mon) and there's so much less litter. Lots of people make extra a little money picking up bottles and cans .05 and more than a few people put cans and bottles out for scavengers, cause they're a nuisance to take back, and why not help out.
posted by theora55 at 6:00 PM on January 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm happy to hear of others who attempt to get cans to pickers. Having been homeless myself for a good while a couple of decades ago... well let's just say I know about some stuff. I save them up until I happen to see a picker and then whistle/wave/etc them over or even get them to follow me home for a block because I have a good haul that's all mission accomplished call it an early day or night and head home with the haul. My favorites have been the Indian who blessed me and getting to know a (probably ALS) dude in an electric wheelchair who can barely manage a mumble Yes/No, but after once or twice just confirming that he understands me perfectly and is all trapped inside. We'll occasionally see each other just out normally and *wildly gesture* wave. Haven't seen him since covid.

If you can manage it, I highly recommend trying that. Catch a picker, have a bit of conversation, dump a big bag of cans on them, it's worth it.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:37 PM on January 24, 2021 [6 favorites]

They've been talking about mandating deposits here forever but the glass and metal industries always manage to lobby the bills to death.
posted by octothorpe at 7:40 PM on January 24, 2021

Aw that's great! Gets him exercise and fresh air, improves the community.

I don't smell or remember very well, but I still remember the smell-feeling of the can / bottle / glass return machines that you can find at most supermarkets in Connecticut -- stale beer and plastic, mostly. And now having read about the futility of most recycling schemes, it seems like this is the way to go -- you get people to cooperate with machines to sort things, you pay them a little for it, and you actually have a chance at getting a second life out of the stuff.

re: sharps -- a presentation to my neighborhood community council said that you can carry sharps in a drink bottle. Synergy.
posted by batter_my_heart at 12:44 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I learned a lot from my boss when I was in grad school in Boston in the 80s. He [adjunct professor] mostly worked from home in the affluent Western burbs. Every day he'd visit the Post Office and pick up any discarded cans from street or litter bins along the way and turn them in at the recycling centre. He looked a total scruff and his sense of self-esteem wasn't dented by raising 50c or $1 a day in this way. "That's $200+ a year for no effort, why wouldn't I do it?". Years later I was visiting when the neighborhood Senior Drop-In Centre had its fund-raising thrift sale. He bought a winter top-coat for $5. I said that would last a while if it was dry-cleaned periodically. "Dry-cleaned? Are you mad? I can get a new top-coat next year for less". Which said as much about economics as it did about him.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:11 AM on January 25, 2021

This guy sounds a lot like former Massachusetts governor and 1988 presidential nominee Michael Dukakis who picks up trash in MBTA subway stations and in parks while walking to work. (Also he collects post-Thanksgiving turkey carcasses to make soup)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:19 AM on January 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

I loved reading this. My daughter has been obsessed with litter from the moment we could walk places together and I’ve always promised her that one day we could go on a litter walk. Inspiring!
posted by CMcG at 5:16 PM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]