Woman's 'amazing' $100 find in skip highlights the rise of desperate Aussie trend
For close to a year, the Brisbane woman has been on a mission to earn some extra money. And she's surprised by what she's been able to find.
A skip bin filled with rubbish rarely has much to offer, but for one woman on a mission her recent find was pretty "amazing".
Heidi Lou has been collecting cans and bottles around her Brisbane neighbourhood for almost a year with plans to use the money to buy a sofa. And she recently made her biggest collection yet having earned a huge $100 for just 30 minutes of work.
The 32-year-old began her can collecting mission last Christmas after watching her parents do the same. They inspired her to jump on board the money-saving hack by utilising the state's "Containers for Change" recycling scheme.
Similar schemes are in place across the country, including NSW's Return and Earn scheme and Victoria's container deposit scheme which encourages recycling by offering residents 10c for every eligible container that's recycled.
While it doesn't seem like much, Heidi has proved that "every little bit counts" and has now made it her mission during her daily walks.
"I have to walk my dog anyway. I'm getting exercise and I'm helping to clean up my neighbourhood," she told Yahoo. "I noticed how much rubbish was around our street, so I started taking bags along with me. So to me it's just like a nice little bonus".
But this week when leaving the gym she noticed a large skip bin at the nearby sporting oval, and to her surprise, it was filled with bottles and cans. So she got to work on bagging them up — and she's glad she did.
Skip bin find contributes to $700 worth of collections
A video shared on her TikTok page, where she's documented her journey so far, shows her fill 10 large garbage bags, each to the value of $10. In total, Heidi managed to collect $100 worth of rubbish before she called it a day, bringing her total collection so far to almost $700.
"I've been quite surprised how much we've been able to get from [doing] it. I'm always surprised by how much rubbish is around and how much we get every day," she said.
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After purchasing their couch, Heidi said she will certainly keep going but is now considering donating some of her earned money to charity instead. Incredibly, her local community has started rallying around her and donating cans of their own.
“I have a few friends who keep them for me but I’ve also had so many people reach out on TikTok [with offers]. Some people have even sent us the money [they’ve earned from collecting cans]. So I think it would be really good to split it with a charity. It's amazing," she said.
More Aussies relying on recycling scheme to make money
While collecting bottles and cans to recycle is a trend among many, most who do it find themselves having to rummage through bins to find them. Andrew Hill from The Salvation Army previously told Yahoo News "it's not unusual to hear and see people" going through bins now the government has offered a financial incentive.
"If someone finds 10 bottles in a bin, that's $1... I think in times of desperation when people are really hurting financially, people will go to all measures to eat, to find the basic necessities," he said.
Previously, a Victorian mum shared her own can-collecting journey revealing the simple way she's able to do it with such ease. While she doesn't actively search for rubbish in the way Heidi does, it's still a cheap and easy way to save, she said.
She has a separate wheelie bin at home, and when it's full she trades the cans and bottles in for cash. recently she pocketed $38.70 by doing nothing.
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