Leonie Starr has recycled thousands of containers. Photo / Facebook
Leonie Starr has recycled thousands of containers. Photo / Facebook
A Queensland woman wants to fund her entire dream destination wedding through recycling containers — an ambitious plan that means she needs to recycle 810,000 bottles and cans.
Leonie Starr from the Sunshine Coast has already recycled more than 50,000 containers at the TOMRA Recycling Centre in Kunda Park as she works towards funding her dream wedding in Vanuatu.
The 51,455 containers Ms Starr recycled were made up of 20,970 aluminium cans, 14,264 glass bottles, 9644 plastic bottles, 581 poppers and 14 steel cans, news.com.au reported.
"All in five months of collecting, with thousands of messages of love and support," Ms Starr said.
"Hundreds of beautiful humans donating their containers to help me get married."
The 28-year-old has earned just over $5000 through the scheme that gives keen recyclers 10 cents per container.
The $5000 already raised by Ms Starr covers the cost of the wedding and her dream dress, but the couple hope to raise an extra $75,000 to pay for their family and friends to party with them.
Leonie Starr when she hit the 20,000 milestone. Photo / Facebook
The remaining money will pay for putting up 35 people in accommodation in Vanuatu for the week.
The couple plan to marry in March next year, with Ms Starr joking she'll be collecting and recycling containers until the moment before they board the flight.
Via her own Facebook page called "A Recycled Wedding", Ms Starr explained she'd done close to 80 trips to the recycling depot by the time she hit 46,000 recycled containers.
"I wasn't going to post again today but I've been sitting in my car, parked in my driveway laughing and laughing for about eight minutes now at how full my car is from one donation of bottles," Ms Starr wrote last month.
"I am so BLESSED to meet so many beautiful people through my recycling journey! Four months of collecting, driving up and down the coast, meeting the absolute best humans ever! I can't thank everyone enough for getting involved in something as simple as recycling.
"I love hearing from you all! I love seeing so many people get involved in cleaning up our environment! Most of all … I love that so many of you are helping me reach MY GOALS.
"See you tomorrow TOMRA Australia."
Starr with her cheque for $1000. Photo / TOMRA
TOMRA gave the bride-to-be a slight push towards her total earlier this month when it handed her a cheque for $1000 to celebrate her months of recycling.
TOMRA, which runs Queensland's Containers for Change scheme, also recently celebrated the milestone of 100 million recycled containers in six months.
"We'd like to thank all our Queensland customers for helping us hit the 100 million container mark this week, just six months into the scheme. Leonie's story is a perfect example of how small actions every week can make a big difference — both to your wallet and to preserving Queensland's world-renowned environment," TOMRA president Ryan Buzzell said.
The return-and-earn scheme was introduced in Queensland in November 2018 through the not-for-profit organisation Container Exchange.
