(plastic crunches)
- I remember when I first started doing this out here.
I was walking down by the river, Kent Avenue, around there.
I'm pushing a shopping cart, and I had an epiphany.
It suddenly seemed so bright and clear to me.
Hey, wait a minute.
I realized that I was happy.
I realize that I was independent.
I realize, I said, oh, wow.
I'm my own boss.
(car engines whir)
(tires screech)
I was working at a music academy.
It was something that I'd always love my whole life,
and I finally get it, find I didn't like it.
I'm depressed in this place.
I'm not, I can't move.
I'm not free.
I left.
I had no great severance package or nothing like that,
you know.
So, I just stepped out on faith.
So one day I'm in my house, and I come outside,
walk around the corner and I see all these blue bags
filled up with cans.
And as I'm walking, I'm saying, wow, this is money here.
If you seen what New York City looked like
over 50 years ago on a Saturday morning, you'd say, what?
I mean, cans and bottles all over the,
the city can't clean it all up.
(door creaks)
Sure We Can is a redemption center.
It was started by a group of canners,
and with a purpose of serving canners in the city.
And to create, in the process, a real community.
(cans rattle)
- I began in 2012 because I had problems finding a job,
and then that's when I started canning.
And I found that each week, I made more and more,
and then I found out where to go, when to go.
And, you know, I do all right.
I pay my rent.
Okay, we're going to the liquor store now.
This is the business that my former student's parent owned.
Pardon me, guys.
Long time no see.
Good, great!
I was hoping you would.
I was hoping.
Thank you so much.
- No problem.
- I love you.
How are the kids?
- They're all good.
- Give everyone a kiss for me.
- I will.
- Tell them I'll, you know, call them very, very soon, okay?
- Okay.
- Thank you, darling.
- Bye bye, see you.
- You, too, darling.
I love her.
There are people who do not like canners,
do not care for them.
I've seen people mistreated and judged and treated badly
because of what they do.
You are out on the streets, and at the mercy of the streets.
When my family found out about it, they were shocked.
They couldn't believe it was me out there
doing something like that.
They still tell me, if your mother was alive,
you wouldn't be doing this because she would be embarrassed.
- Their line of work does have value.
It cleans up the environment,
which we are in deep trouble with now.
(cart wheels whir)
Manhattan is a gold mine.
You cannot live in New York City and say that you're broke.
(cans clatter)
It's just not about going and picking up cans.
You have to pick territories.
You have to get a route, your route.
95% of my canning does not depend on recycling.
I was diagnosed with bone cancer last August.
I went through 12 grueling rounds of chemotherapy,
and it affected my canning a great deal.
A lot of times I was just too weak, too sick to go out.
I'm not afraid of dying.
I am afraid of not doing anything.
(cart wheels scrape against pavement)
Somebody loves me.
They thought about me, or they thought about somebody.
People do this often.
They put cans outside because they know
that somebody's coming through.
(cans clink)
Clink, clink!
Caring about what people think about you is bondage,
so the first thing that has to be suspended is ego.
Oskar, you're the best!
$63 to $70, right?
- Today I don't have money.
Yesterday, yes.
- So you see, you know, losing your job
is not the end of the world when you live in New York.
(cart wheels whir)
This place has become like my family in a way,
and I love them all.
And I began to see how hard people worked.
(cans clatter)
(workers murmur)
- If we were to include it on, say, liquor bottles,
right, for instance?
- Yeah.
- How would this be redeemed?
- So, the system can be created.
- I don't think about what I don't have.
I think about everything that I do have.
And I gained so much from doing this.
I didn't have the relationship with people that I have now.
I don't think I'd want to give it up.
I'm happy.
- If they brought it to 10 cents,
that would mean that more people would get involved in this.
The canner has to realize this.
The people who are in government who oversee these things
have to realize that we are in a struggle
for the survival of the human race.
Our very lives depend on recycling.
(funky music)