A Washington State couple channels their love for each other, the environment, and low-budget DIY projects into an ambitious recycling project.
Pete and Andrea; Photo via Wedding Cans
Lots of Matadorians care about the environment. And lots of us have had budget weddings.
But I think we’re all going to be bested by Pete and Andrea.
The Spokane, Washington couple are planning to pay for their wedding by recycling 400,000 aluminum cans.
On their website, Wedding Cans, Pete and Andrea explain the motives behind this unusual way of funding nuptials:
[E]ven simple weddings cost more than a few dollars. We don’t really have much extra cash sitting around, since we’re just starting out. Add that to the fact that environmental responsibility plays a big part in our lives, and we hatched the crazy plan. Pay for the wedding – with recycling. Aluminum recycling is one of the most sustainable and useful forms of recycling. We’re shooting for 400,000 aluminum cans – approximately 5 tons of empty cans. We would like to get married on July 31 – which gives us 7 months to hit the goal.
For neighbors in Spokane, Pete and Andrea teamed up with a local recycler so folks can drop off cans and earmark their earnings for the wedding. For folks elsewhere, Pete and Andrea suggest taking your cans to a local recycling center and kicking a portion of your proceeds to their project after you treat yourself to a coffee or a microbrew.
Read all about the project on their website after you check out this video:
Community Connection:
Maybe you don’t want to collect cans, but if you do want to plan a budget wedding, MatadorTrips’ co-editor, Carlo Alcos, offers plenty of practical advice in A Budget Traveler’s Guide to Wedding Planning.
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7 Comments... join the discussion!
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That is freaking awesome. Kudos!
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That’s awesome!
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Awesome ! Gotta hand it to these folks. Aluminum auto transmissions would get them the weight alot faster, though. Dang, wonder if there’s anywhere I coulr recycle marriage licenses !
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While it is a noble effort, why have a wedding at all? Just get married at a courthouse and that’s it. The end result is the same – a signed paper and a happily married couple. Which leads me to believe this whole effort is just an attention-grabbing stunt.
I’m glad it’s about recycling, though.↵ -
Wow-what a cool idea. Thrifty and eco-conscious, both so hard to do when planning weddings. Kudos.
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I really love the environmentally-friendly approach!!
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