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Couple Funds Honeymoon With Recyclables

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-done-with-that dept.

John and Ann Till, from Petersfield, in Hampshire, spent three months collecting recyclables to pay for their honeymoon flights. The couple earned one reward point, which they converted into BA air miles, for every four items they recycled. In the end, they amassed 36,000 miles. Mr Till, 31, a railways communications manager, said, "We wanted to make our honeymoon special and were trying to think of ways to raise money for it. I saw on the machine that you got a Tesco Clubcard point for every four items you put in. For every 250 points you got 600 British Airways miles. We worked out that it would be possible to turn rubbish into our flights — as long as we had enough."

38 comments

  1. Garbage = Fuel! by Gr33nJ3ll0 · · Score: 1

    Pretty soon they'll be using the garbage to fuel the planes, making this a one to one conversion, cutting out the middle man!

    1. Re:Garbage = Fuel! by eagee · · Score: 4, Funny

      Shoot by then we can just put garbage in our DeLoreans and fly :)

    2. Re:Garbage = Fuel! by DanTheStone · · Score: 1

      No, silly. It still runs on ordinary gasoline. But we can time travel!

    3. Re:Garbage = Fuel! by eagee · · Score: 1

      Not it part 2 it doesn't :D

    4. Re:Garbage = Fuel! by Fozzyuw · · Score: 1

      Mr Fusion for the Win!

      --
      "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
    5. Re:Garbage = Fuel! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...it does in Part 3.

  2. Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    If they have simply gotten part time jobs for 3 months I'm sure they could have made much more money with less time.

    1. Re:Inefficient by ByOhTek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think part of the point is that they were doing something for the general good at the same time as helping finance their honeymoon.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    2. Re:Inefficient by SupplyMission · · Score: 1

      Yes. Just like door-to-door chocolate selling, or bake sales, or 99% of all charity money raising schemes. If people just worked an extra hour per week at their jobs, and donated the extra cash to whatever cause, charities would have a lot more money. Personally, I'd rather earn $40 for charity by working an extra hour on Wednesday, than make $40 by spending the weekend walking around my neighbourhood scalping light bulbs made by retards.

    3. Re:Inefficient by LohanChien · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They did get part time jobs...collecting rubbish -and it paid them in the currency they sought....on their own time and own terms, right?

    4. Re:Inefficient by Jim_Maryland · · Score: 1

      I absolutely hated when my parents sent me out to sell things for the organizations I was involved in. As a parent, I now either donate my time or write a check. Don't ask me to beg my neighbors to give a percentage to my organization and a percentage to some company for an item they probably don't really want. I'd rather take a second job than make my kids into door to door (or relative/friend) sales people. The best way that my son's football program raise money was to have us volunteer our time as parking attendants for an event the county sponsored. The program was paid (not exactly the same wage that I get) and it only involved a small amount of time from. We didn't have to push any items on people and we still made money.

      Oh, some advice on fund raiser meetings for any event. After you listen to the presentation for selling the items, ask how much the program is estimating as a return for participating in the program. I was on the board for the football program and fund raising group would have an estimated income based on past fund raisers. If they say the sales will bring approximately $50 per person, simply say you'll cut a check for $50 and that you will not be participating in the fund raiser.

    5. Re:Inefficient by diskofish · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We have scavengers like this that troll around the city using shopping carts and beat up pickup trucks. It's become a real problem, many have become really brazen and will take whatever they can get their hands on weather it's really trash or not They'll come up on your property and go through your trash bins looking for deposit items and other recyclables. I've confronted several of these people on a number of occasions, and even had steel rod stolen. I unloaded this in the driveway on the side of my house AWAY from the road and it was gone within an hour of unloading it.

    6. Re:Inefficient by Millennium · · Score: 1

      Working to earn money is eeeeeevil, didn't you know? Get with the times.

    7. Re:Inefficient by Shotgun · · Score: 3, Funny

      heh! Don't knock it. I paid for my wife's wedding ring by walking the street, picking up empty soda-pop bottles.
      Had to do something, the baby was on its way.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    8. Re:Inefficient by onion2k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I doubt that actually. They made the equivalent of £3000 by doing 170 hours each ... that's £3000/340 hours ... so about £9/hour tax free. Not many part time jobs pay that sort of money.

      --
      http://twitter.com/onion2k
    9. Re:Inefficient by antic · · Score: 1

      Plus you've got a strangely appropriate alias to go with the story. A bit too convenient some might say.

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    10. Re:Inefficient by mqduck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You've confronted people digging for through trash to find recyclables because they need the tiny amount of money they can get for them? I get the "they're trespassing on my private property to make a mess of my garbage" problem, but have a tiny bit of perspective here, man.

      --
      Property is theft.
    11. Re:Inefficient by magarity · · Score: 1

      The problem is that they rip open all the bagged trash, paw through it, and leave a loose pile that blows into the yard. At least that's what I confront the same jerks about. I called the police a couple of times but they run off by the time the cops arrive.

    12. Re:Inefficient by JTsyo · · Score: 1

      Maybe you should try bear proof trash cans.

    13. Re:Inefficient by FishAdmin · · Score: 1

      heh! Don't knock it. I paid for my wife's wedding ring by walking the street...

      Boy, THAT seems like the wrong way to earn wedding ring cash!

      --
      Last night I played a blank tape at full volume. The mime next door went nuts.
    14. Re:Inefficient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I've seen them go through the dumpster in my building, pulling out bags and opening 'em up, taking what they want, then just leaving all the rest of the garbage scattered on the ground. I'm sure they're in a really bad way, but doesn't make it less annoying...

    15. Re:Inefficient by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Don't you judge me, FishAdmin. Don't you judge me.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    16. Re:Inefficient by FishAdmin · · Score: 1

      Don't you judge me, FishAdmin. Don't you judge me.

      Well played, sir. Well played!

      --
      Last night I played a blank tape at full volume. The mime next door went nuts.
  3. That's a lot of stuff... by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 1


    That means they averaged >650 items per day (including weekends and holidays) for three straight months.

    That's a lot of Mt. Dew.

    1. Re:That's a lot of stuff... by pak9rabid · · Score: 1

      That's a lot of Slurm

      Fixed that for ya.

  4. They cheated: cutting cans in half! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Note, they cheated: they cut cans in half so it counted as two cans. Invalidate half their value. They're stealing money from the system, basically. WTG.

    1. Re:They cheated: cutting cans in half! by SomeJoel · · Score: 4, Informative

      This AC is right. In TFA it mentions all the shady things they had to do to come up with this total. These people should be arrested, not lauded. They are cheating the system, and making it harder for honest people to get any awards.

      --
      <Complete your profile by adding a signature!>
    2. Re:They cheated: cutting cans in half! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Screw you too eh?! Tesco is terribly priced as it is. This is good news to see people gain from them finally. Basically, fuck off you idiots. Both of you.

    3. Re:They cheated: cutting cans in half! by Ed+Avis · · Score: 0

      So they took advantage of an idiotic system. Good for them.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  5. Environment: ur doin it rong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They spent three months recycling, so that they could indulge in one of the most carbon-intensive, environmentally damaging activities a human can participate in (short of actually setting fire to a forest)? Bravo, middle classes! Next thing you know they'll be tarmac'ing over their front garden so there's more space for their two new electric cars.

    1. Re:Environment: ur doin it rong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is not usually a lot of garden in the front anyway.

  6. Sounds like cheating to me. by xC0000005 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They cut the cans in half to "maximize" points. I'll try that next time I'm at the store. I'll cut a dollar bill in half and see if they let my buy $1 with each half.

    --
    www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
    1. Re:Sounds like cheating to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well if you know anything about money and the federal reserve you will already know that the value of money is made up out of thin air anyways based on made up out of thin air debt

  7. Is that a trashy... by davidsyes · · Score: 1

    Honeymoon, or what?

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  8. judging by the id# by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    your story might be true. That and you walked 20 miles through the snow over hills fighting off ravenous wilder-beasts

  9. Would have been even better... by MiniMike · · Score: 2, Funny

    Would have been an even better story if it was 2nd (or any number > 1) marriage for both of them. Talk about recycling and reusing!

  10. Recyling turned my life around... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    About three years ago me and my wife had some bad times and we lived out of a park in first burbank, then santa monica. In CA, you could recycle 16 oz or smaller bottle for $0.04 or 20 oz and up for $0.08. In Burbank across the street they filmed the Ellen show and people would line up around the block for hours to get in to see her or even just sit in a room and watch her on cctv. When those lines went in there was trash everywhere. Two shows a day on filming days and between $20 and $50 in bottles per show, with a stack of discarded magazines to read as a nice bonus. It eventually got us a car to sleep in and the ability to get a part time job so we could make it back to Texas and start again.

    My wife's gone, but I'm back on my feet and lead a relatively normal life. The shameful tidbit to close with is that I no longer recycle.