NYC Redemption Center Helps Impoverished "Canners" Get By

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 16: Bags of empty cans wait to be recycled at Sure We Can, a non-profit bottle redemption center in Bushwick, Brooklyn that is pushing to become a cooperative for the canning community on February 16, 2013 in New York City. Sure We Can, which was partly started by homeless canners in 2007 and is run by one of its founders Sister Ana Martinez de Luco, looks to give the diverse members of the canning community a safe and fraternal place to redeem cans, store their carriages and become members of an association that encourages self-dependence and responsibility. Many of New York's canners are non-English-speaking elderly immigrants who live a marginalized existence and are vulnerable to dishonest business practices. Sure We Can currently serves around 50 canners per day and recycles over 6 million bottles and cans per year. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)