ethicalweddings.com

Thank you Google Alerts.  If it wasn’t for this handy little tool that flags up ethical and green wedding stories for me from around the globe, I wouldn’t have come across this quirky but commendable story about Peter and Andrea, an eco-conscious couple recycling cans to pay for their wedding.

Peter smelts aluminium as a hobby but it was Andrea who came up with the idea of collecting and recycling 400,000 cans – the number they would need to pay for their $3,500-$4,000 medieval-style wedding.

They say:

…even 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.
 

Based in Spokane in the state of Washington, the couple have harnessed the power of the world wide web via Facebook, Twitter and their own weddingcans.com website to set in motion a surge in can-recycling as green romantics show their support for this very sustainable celebration.

In just a few weeks they’ve collected over 90,000 cans (25,781 actual cans and 66,571 in the cash equivalent to the recycled cans, via the PayPal account set up on their site) but still have a fair way to go to reach their 400,000 target by 31 July when they plan to wed.

If you feel inspired to help them on their way in this romantic recycling quest, take a look at weddingcans.com where you can find out more about their project, how many cans they’ve collected so far and – most importantly – where to send your cans.

Good luck guys!

Katie