I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post. But as an excuse I have been busy on other projects; as it’s now apple season I have constructed a cider press, and am currently manufacturing a scratter – once it’s operational, I’ll put up some photos!

As mentioned previously, on Sundays my wife and I go for a stroll in the countryside. Well, I say stroll, it’s more of a foraging trip actually. Mushrooms, elderberries, blackberries and so on. Unfortunately there’s always evidence that others have been there before us. I’m talking about litter.

So, I’m now making money out of items that other people throw away. Did you know scrap aluminium is now around £830 per ton? And the majority of cans are made from: aluminium. So now I always carry a couple of plastic bags in my pocket, and when I see a discarded can I flatten it and pop it in the bag. Once we get home, the bag is emptied into a cardboard box in the garage.

After two months’ collecting (which entailed very little effort), I had three full cardboard boxes, so took them along to a local metal recycling company where I was paid just over £10 for the scrap.

It’s not a fortune, but it doesn’t cost me anything to collect these discarded cans – and another advantage is that I’m helping to clean up the countryside!

I also sell stuff on Ebay fairly regularly, and whenever I walk to the post office down the road I never fail to pick up at least 4 discarded cans. It’s curious that this country doesn’t introduce a deposit system like they have in Finland. I just found an article about this here.

Actually on second thoughts please don’t introduce a deposit system. That would mean there wouldn’t be any cans for me to collect.

So, which company’s cans contribute the most to all this litter?

Coke? No.

Fosters? No.

Carlsberg Special Brew? No, but a close second.

The winner? Red Bull. It may give you wings, but the cans fall back down to earth.