Bin diving is “salvaging from public containers for unwanted items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the picker”. A similar process known as gleaning was practised in rural areas and some ancient agricultural societies, where the residue from farmers’ fields was collected. In some communities, bin diving is done by people to access discarded food items out of necessity due to poverty. In these cases it has often become a pejorative term.
But in Daylesford, we have a committed bin diver who does it to help educate vulnerable kids living in poverty in Cambodia, Laos & Nepal. She is Chris Bundy, better known as “Cans for Kids” (CFK).
Five days a week, she tramps around Daylesford covering 6 to 8 kms rain, hail or shine, searching for recyclable bottles and cans. She cashes them in at the Daylesford Container Refund Point where she receives 10cents for every item.
The money she earns goes entirely to cover her activities working with various humanitarian NGOs in Cambodia, Laos and Nepal.
For 6 to 9 months every year, Chris teaches English, Permaculture and Organic Farming to orphans and people with disabilities in Cambodia and Laos. She also sponsors a young girl studying at university in Phnom Penh to become a teacher herself. In Laos, she sponsors two young children through their schooling at the Luang Prabang Orphanage. In Nepal she supports a humanitarian NGO called We All Rotate. Steve Beatty from We All Rotate says: “CFK supports We All Rotate in providing quality education and urgent help to underprivileged children and families. From food hampers for starving families, to helping renovate schools. CFK also sponsors the education of two very special children each month — cheeky orphan Ganga, and young Subash, whose single mum is bravely battling cancer.”
Money raised from CFK also provides emergency assistance to struggling families. Chris works with a Khmer NGO, Salvation Centre Cambodia (SCC), which recently sought urgent assistance for a family of 7 living on the streets of Phnom Penh. The 3 boys in the family, aged 5 to 9 years could not attend school under Cambodian law because they did not have birth certificates. CFK, in conjunction with SCC found the family accommodation, purchased food, arranged birth certificates and got the boys off to school with new uniforms and books. Sovann Son, SCC Projects Manager, says that in receiving help from CFK “many children from poor families, including those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, have been able to receive an education, and some have even continued on to university.”
Chris is motivated to do her bin diving by the joy and gratitude expressed by the many children and families she helps. She is inspired by the sacrifices they make to better themselves and she says “If a child in SE Asia needs to bin dive for food and to help feed their family…I can do it to help that child get a good education!”
Chris has a background as a single Mum with careers in the Defence and Police Forces, Probation/Parole Service and Social Work. She is grateful that her life has been comparatively privileged and she can apply skills learned in her earlier life including her studies at university in Canada (Politics and International Relations). When she’s not in S.E. Asia, she is domiciled in Daylesford. She says the Daylesford community is very generous in their support of “Cans for Kids” in particular Jubilee Lake Holiday Park which has been wonderful in allowing her to recycle in the park. She says that no matter how small, an act of kindness has a ripple effect and the folk at Jubilee H.Park epitomise kindness and generosity.
Keep an eye out for Chris as she trundles around Daylesford with her battered old suitcase collecting recyclable cans and bottles. Offer her a lift, and your own cans and bottles.
She is Daylesford’s own very generous and hard-working bin diver. Her big-hearted community spirit is a source of inspiration to us all.
