News
21 November, 2024
Changing the collection game
Moreton Bay local, Xander Nichols, has been named Young Change Maker 2024 for his contributions to Containers for Change at the annual Change Maker Awards on November 7.
11-year-old Xander has been collecting refund cans and bottles for a year and a half in the Moreton Bay region, driving anywhere between Caboolture and Lawton for collections, five to seven days per week.
Xander, who has been diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), found collecting cans as a way to connect with the community and expand on his social and communication skills while being home schooled.
“The can collecting was a way to do all that but it has become such a bigger thing now, because he is collecting that many cans that he is paying forward to a lot of charities,” his mother Kristie said.
The past weekend of November 15 to 17 saw Xander’s biggest collection run, having made over $500 (equating to over 5,000 cans and bottles), having spent between six and eight hours collecting.
Xander uses his mother’s Facebook account to post on community pages offering to come to houses for collections, having several regular ‘clients’ now.
According to Kristie, this is looking like it will be Xander’s job growing up, with him having already started to save for a ute to increase collection capacity.
Lawnton’s Container for Change has also been a strong supporter, offering Xander a place to work when he turns 14.
Xander became interested in the project after initially collecting his grandfather’s beer bottles.
Slowly it grew from collecting cans and bottles from families and friends, to collecting what he found in public spaces such as parks, eventually making a Facebook page to offer home collections, which now has a following of over 700 people.
For more information visit the Facebook page Xander the can collector.
