Canadian recycler raises $15 000 for cancer charity

The amount of bottles and cans Gia Tran brings in for recycling every week may not be worth more than ten dollars. Over the course of 21 years, however, the Vancouver citizen has brought in over CA$ 15 000 (EUR 10,000) to benefit a local cancer charity.

The 62-year old Canadian searches the streets of her city daily for used aluminium cans and glass and plastic bottles. She doesn’t keep the recycling reward, which varies from five cents for a beer can to 20 cents for a wine bottle, but donates it to charity.

Tran gathers these recyclables throughout the cold and wet west coast winters, says Sarah Roth of the BC Cancer Foundation. She calls the two-decades-long, one-woman, recycling scheme a  ‘testament to true kindness’.

‘No matter what kind of day you’re having, when Gia comes in, you forget about it and you just focus on her warmth and her laughter,’ Roth says.

For Tran, the daily one-hour scavenging patrol is hardly work. ‘People happy… I’m happy,’ she simply states. ‘It’s an amazing story of gratitude, of altruism,’ Roth adds with a smile.

Source: CBC News