Container recycling a boon to charity fundraising in Sydney’s multicultural west

In Western Sydney, the non-profit Brothers In Need has encouraged sustainability and raised funds from Return and Earn container recycling since 2019. The Muslim-based charity puts these funds towards assisting people who are homeless, living in poverty, ill, or otherwise underprivileged.

When Brothers In Need began fundraising with Return and Earn, volunteers from the organisation would also collect bottles and cans from members of the community to return. These days, the system is streamlined, with the charity recently featured on 20 Return and Earn machines across Western Sydney as a charity partner. This allows consumers to directly donate their refunds. So far, they have raised around $7,000 through Return and Earn.

Brothers In Need itself is mainly volunteer-run. Like the people they help, the volunteers come from all walks of life, including refugees and migrants. In fact, the charity has volunteers from over 40 countries.

One of the critical ways the funds raised support the community is through a local soup kitchen that provides 120 hot meals and desserts each day.

“Volunteers cook and distribute the meals to people who are homeless, asylum seekers and people from low-income households,” explains Managing Director Dean Mousad

When the fundraising campaign launched in 2019, the charity worked hard to educate their community about recycling and how Return and Earn worked.

“We had a couple of opportunities to visit return points to make videos of how the scheme works. This helped us teach people in our networks about saving the environment, and every bottle they donate to us means we are able to do more work,” said Dean.

Dean is enthusiastic about what the future holds and the potential for the initiative to grow as more people get involved.

“Some great work has already been done, which is of benefit to the environment and has allowed people to get involved, do good and support a cause.

“Instead of donating money they may not have, they can donate their bottles and know they’ve made an impact,” he said.