How recycling paid for this Qld mum’s wedding, honeymoon, and baby fund
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Weddings are usually very expensive, costing the average Aussie couple thousands of dollars for the preparation, gown, catering, venue, and the event itself.
But for one newlywed couple on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, costs for their wedding - even their honeymoon - were already taken care of.
How?
For three years now, Leonie Starr and her husband, Matthew Porter, have turned people’s trash into cash using QLD’s Return-it recycling scheme.
Leonie and her husband spent three years turning people’s trash into cash. Credit: ABC/Leonie Starr.
Since November of 2018, Leonie Starr and Matthew Porter have dedicated themselves to their initiative of collecting bottles and cans, and giving them to the state’s recycling program, which offers customers a 10c instant refund on every recyclable bottle and can they turn in.
And at this point in her life, Leonie isn’t sure anymore how many bottles and cans she has brought to the recycling depot. Their wedding cost them $15,000, which meant the couple collected and cashed in at least 150,000.
At first, Leonie started off simply by collecting her own household’s bottles and cans, racking up to $15 per visit. But as she realised the potential of this recycling scheme, what started as a small hobby soon became a huge source of income for Leonie and her husband.
So, she had her friends and family involved as well, asking them to keep their recyclable trash for her to pick up and bring to the recycling depot.
Little by little, Leonie’s circles grew. Aside from her family and friends, strangers started to help her too.
She used to make one trip per week, then it turned into one trip daily, and then into fifteen trips per week, as the number of recyclables she received increased as well.
Leonie even admitted that she spent more time at the recycling depot than planning her actual wedding, and that she would be usually seen at the local parks, picking up recyclables from other park visitors.
The couple got married in November 2020. Credit: Facebook/A Recycled Wedding.
In November 2020, Leonie and Matt celebrated their dream wedding, all paid for by the funds they saved up from recycling.
“It was completely free! Everything was paid for by cans,” said Leonie, adding that they didn’t have to spend a single cent of their own for the flowers, catering, and the venue.
But it didn't end there. Their recycling efforts were able to cover the cost of their honeymoon as well.
The pair opted for a road trip up north since pandemic restrictions did not allow them to fly overseas.
Leonie even recalled how during their vacation, she never really shook off her habit of recycling. During their trip, she collected every recyclable material she could find and brought them back home.
“Anything we were drinking in the campervan, we saved them,” she said, adding, “Matt kept asking me, ‘Are you sure you want to keep all of these? We're running out of room’.”
“One time, he opened a cupboard in the van, and all these cans fell out,” said the wife, laughing and expressing her gratitude for Matt’s patience.
Leonie Starr has been collecting thousands of recyclables to raise money for her newlywed life. Credit: Facebook/A Recycled Wedding.
With their wedding done and their honeymoon taken care of, Leonie said that the rest of their ‘can money’ goes to their ‘baby funds’.
And while she still trades and collects recyclables in her free time, the mum-of-one said she no longer accepts trash from strangers.
“It just became a lot,” Leonie revealed.
Over the past few years, she has traded in over $20,000 worth of cans and bottles.
Now, she strongly promotes a reduce, reuse, and recycle lifestyle.
Similar to QLD’s Return-it recycling scheme, NSW has a Return-and-Earn program where a vending machine refunds recyclers 10 cents for every recyclable material.
Credit: TOMRA.
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