Sure We Can

Sure We Can provides container-deposit redemption services to the Brooklyn, New York area.[4] Any person can come to Sure We Can during business hours and redeem NY state accepted bottles and cans.[4] Additionally, the organization serves as a community hub for the canner community that redeems there and for local environmental causes that promote the organizations dedication to sustainability.[5][6][7]

Sure We Can (SWC) was founded in 2007 by a group led by Ana Martinez de Luco and Eugene Gadsden to serve the canning community of New York.[4] The facility is designed with canners, the people who collect cans and bottles from the streets, in mind, aiming to provide a welcoming place they can redeem their cans and bottles.[8] Sure We Can is the only non-profit, homeless-friendly redemption center in New York City.[8] In 2019, the center annually processes 10 million cans and bottles for redemption, and serves a community of over 400 canners.[8] Sure We Can estimates that they distribute $700,000 per year to canners.[9] The average canner who visits Sure We Can earns $1000 per year.[10]

Starting in 2020, Sure We Can faces eviction by their landlord, who is interested in selling the lot they have rented for 10 years. As of 2021, the organization is seeking funding from either the city or private donor to buy the land.[11][10]

In 2021, Sure We Can worked with the Street Vendor Project to release a study documenting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City on canners and street vendors, whose income dwindled during restrictions even as these informal workers were ineligible for government support.[12] Sure We Can is a member of the Community Advisory Board of New York City's Test & Trace Corps.[13]

• Short video on Sure We Can - released 2021
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  Entrance on McKibbin Street
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  Recyclables are stacked, palleted, and stored in shipping containers before pick-up.
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  Bottles and cans are sorted by manufacturer.
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  Bottles and cans are sorted and stored throughout the facility.
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  A community celebration at Sure We Can in the garden community space
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  Community space and garden at Sure We Can
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  Stacks of sorted bottles and cans wait to be picked up for recycling.
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  Sure We Can employee holds a sample sheet of the upcycled plastic film product the redemption center is working on.
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  Sure We Can's canner community and employees clean up McKibbin St for Earth Day 2021.
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  Bags of cans by the Sure We Can logo
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  Sure We Can Executive Director leading a tour during Open House New York

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sure We Can.

• Sure We Can
• A Revolution Is Taking Place, One Can at a Time - Village Voice - March 2022