Recycling cans and bottles in exchange for cash might be the most widely known example of a circular economy in action — and one motivated Australian man leveraged a local initiative to accumulate a down payment on a house.

36-year-old Damian Gordon said he was "casually aware" of a regional "Return and Earn" program in New South Wales, which offered ten cents for every can collected and returned to a designated exchange point. 

"Reverse vending machines" accept empty cans, glass bottles, and plastic containers, and they're one of the ways the Return and Earn program allows residents to turn trash into cash. Gordon spoke about his long-term bottle and can collection project, explaining that a down payment on a home wasn't his initial motivator.

At first, he wanted to blow off steam after long days in the "health industry." Gordon began taking walks on the beach to unwind and found it "impossible to ignore all the rubbish … scattered across the shoreline."

"Returning to the beach as often as I could, I made it my mission to collect the rubbish during my walk," he told lifestyle weekly That's Life. 

It wasn't long before he "started noticing how many containers were left behind at events and parks." That inspired Gordon to visit music festivals, as "crowds left mountains of empties behind."

It's no secret Australia is facing complex housing woes, with more than a third of houses in the country priced at over $1 million or more. Gordon wasn't thinking about a steep property ladder when he began collecting and returning cans, first cultivating a "small habit" of putting aside eligible cans and glass bottles due to what he witnessed on his nightly beach walks. 

After a festival in 2017, Gordon and other volunteers separated 40,000 recyclable containers from other refuse. He "was amazed to walk away with a whopping $4,000" after just one event, and the single-day take gave him a "wild idea."

"I'm going to recycle my way to a house deposit," Gordon told his mother. New South Wales' Return and Earn program was introduced in 2017, and within three years, he'd saved $20,000.

January marked seven years of Gordon's recycling efforts. By that point, he'd netted $45,000, which he combined with other savings for a deposit on a 2-bedroom house.

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Gordon's money-saving approach to securing a down payment was shockingly successful, and he took an eco-friendly approach to homeownership. 

After spending years face-to-face with mountains of refuse during his recycling efforts, he furnished his new place with "treasures" he found at the curb, "including a fridge, microwave, juicer, and a bed frame."

The thing about habits — good or bad — is that they can be difficult to break, and Gordon's reverse vending machine routine hasn't gone anywhere. 

"With mortgage repayments coming hard and fast, I don't plan to stop collecting any time soon," Gordon said. "Now I'm paying off my dream home, one bottle at a time."

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