About the Five Million Can Project

I'm an out of work mom. When I had this idea, I was still working. Even then, with the cost of daycare, the cost of our mortgage, the cost of health insurance, the cost of day to day life, I didn't know how we were going to save for our kids' college fund.

This idea began that everywhere I went, if I saw a plastic or glass bottle or aluminum can-- a recyclable, that I'd pick it up and take it home and recycle it. I looked at it as a nickel. If I saw a nickel on the ground, I'd pick it up. Wouldn't you? So, these are my nickels.

After looking at the estimated cost of college in 2024 and 2027, respectively, my kids will probably need anywhere from 125,000 to 400,000 to go to college. EACH. If I can raise that minimum amount of money, then put it in a CD for the kids over the years, I should be able to have enough to pay for college for both of them.

How many of those "nickels" or cans would I have to find in order to pay for my kids' college?



Five Million Cans.

So this is the Five Million Can Project. My goals is to get Five Million Cans for my kids by the time my daughter turns 5. She is 3 1/2 now. I and my husband have currently found 416 cans and bottles. (Some bottles are worth more than a nickel according to California Recycling Value-- CRV). This is currently equivalent to 22.45. Obviously, I cannot do this alone, especially since my husband and I rarely drink soda-- Okay, I'm the soda drinker in the house-- and we have made it a rule that we don't buy bottled water unless absolutely necessary. We used to use a Brita filtered pitcher and now we have a filter built into our refrigerator. So, between our offices, where people are pitching their recyclables without a second thought and finding bottles and cans on the street, we're finding those nickels wherever and whenever we can. Even still, we need help. So, will you donate your cans and bottles to our little project?

Hopefully this will lead not only to my kids having a college fund, but also to a larger realization that empty cans and bottles have value. That wasting them by throwing them into the trash where they will just poison the Earth isn't just bad for the environment, but that you can really DO something positive when you don't waste.

Thanks!
The Can Mom.