Home sweet home thanks to Return and Earn

Super recycler Damian “Damo” Gordon has shown just how valuable ‘rubbish’ can be by saving a house deposit thanks to Return and Earn.

His amazing achievement of recycling enough bottles and cans to buy a two-bedroom home on the NSW Central Coast has left “people just in shock”, the 36-year-old admits.

“One of my mates likes to call me a garbologist,” Damo jokes.

“I’ve been using Return and Earn since it began. Sometimes I’ll just be travelling the streets with a big bucket and a big bag.

“Other times I’ll have a team of people and we’ll be cleaning up after a wedding or I’ll be hanging out with organiser from a music festival and we’ll be helping clean up.”

Damo’s enthusiasm for recycling – which started with keeping his local beach environment free from litter – has seen him return a staggering 460,000 eligible bottle and cans.

Over seven years the refunds built up to a $45,000 deposit which he used to buy his first home in January.

The story of the man who bought a house with bottles and cans has since been shared widely, including in France, Spain, the United State, Greece and Argentina.

And while Damo has ticked home ownership off his bucket list, his enthusiasm for Return and Earn recycling continues.

His new goal: to keep cashing in cans to help pay off his mortgage while helping the environment.

“I think it’s really important to realise that each can or bottled recycled, there is a deeper meaning behind it and it’s important for our environment to really give back and reuse and close the loop on the excess waste that we as humans produce.”