A HEALTHCARE assistant has come up with a novel way to get over the grief of losing her mum - collecting aluminium cans.

Linda McCarten decided she needed something to focus on to help her process the death of her mum after caring for her for four years.

The community health care professional, who works for the end of life charity Marie Curie, had noticed grass verges and bushes filled with cans during walks with her dog and visits to neighbourhoods across the town as part of her job.

She then hit on the idea of making money from the scrap metal value of the cans and decided swapping them for cash would be a great way of cleaning up her community while raising money for charity.

After she finished her shifts at work she started hitting the hedgerows and collecting the cans in bin bags and after making £20 from selling her first collection to a scrap metal merchant she knew she had hit on a great idea.

Every day she averages around 12,000 steps walking and collects up to six binbags of discarded cans and she has also roped in six friends across the town to help her and so far, in just three months she has made over £200 for Marie Curie after recycling more than 21,000 cans.

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Local businesses are now supporting her fundraising effort as well by saving all their cans to help with her collections.

Mum-of one-Linda said: “I have always saved aluminium cans and recycled but never on this scale. I lost my dog in January and later my mum and I found I had a big gap in my life. I was grieving and empty.

“I needed something to get me through and to get me out of the house and get some exercise. I’d noticed rubbish during my trips to and from patients’ houses and from walking the dog but didn’t really think anything more of it.

“But then it just occurred to me that no one has a lot of money at the moment and what better way to earn  money than from waste. So I came up with the idea of collecting and recycling cans.

"It’s improving the environment, giving back to charity, getting me fit and doing something positive all at the same time. It’s very therapeutic and helps clear my head.

“Despite the cost of living I have found a lot of people are going out of their way to help me. I am now like the town’s third recycling service. Anywhere there is a load of cans I will go there.

“I researched when the different recycling collection days are and I go the day before and all the people there save me their cans.

“I see cans everywhere now and if I am in the car and I see them I pull over, get out my grabber and black bin bag, get it into the boot and I’m off.”

St Helens Star:

Linda works as a full time as a senior healthcare assistant for Marie Curie and visits homes across the North West overnight to care for terminally ill people and provide respite for their family carers.

But by day she is out on the hunt for other people’s rubbish to raise funds to support Marie Curie, helping fund more nurses and assistants like herself who provide essential palliative and end of life nursing services for the charity.

Linda says local businesses are now supporting her fundraising with the North West Museum of Road Transport saving her all their cans along with the Pinkeez takeaway in Sutton and the Peasley Cross United Reform Church who are collecting parishioners’ cans.

The 51-year-old  added: “Some people think I’m barmy but it has really helped me cope with my grieving process and I would recommend it to anyone to help with their mental health.  It is very addictive as you start seeing cans everywhere. People are struggling and still want to give to charity so they can help by donating their used cans. The response has blown me away. Everyone wants to help.

“One of my friends brothers goes picking in his lunch hour and after work. It is catching on all over St Helens as everyone wants to get involved. One collector has worn his shoes out and has had to buy a second pair.  I also go collecting in Widnes around Albert Square. You get to know about the best places where people dump their cans.  It’s certainly a talking point and people love to chat with you while you are out doing it especially when you are wearing your bright yellow tabard.”

Linda said during a recent trip to Wales she ended up collecting there too as well at a campsite.

She added: “I couldn’t help it even though were supposed to be on a break, the boot was full of bin bags when we came back. I want to expand to other nearby towns as it is something that is really bringing the community together for a great cause.”

  • Marie Curie is here to help with practical information and support on all aspects of life with terminal illness, and bereavement. If you need support, please contact the charity on 0800 090 2309 or www.mariecurie.org.uk/help