The ACT’s Container Deposit Scheme should perhaps be called a Housing Deposit Scheme because Greenway resident Ashlee Rankin is cashing in cans on a grand scale to help pay off her mortgage.

Facing four interest rate hikes so far this year, Ashlee decided to ask a townhouse complex (where her mum works) if she could collect their bottles and cans, as well as containers from some of her mum’s cleaning clients. This adds up to about 800-plus cans a month.

Twenty-four-year-old Ashlee admits that at 10 cents a container, the refund isn’t going to pay off her mortgage any time soon “but every little bit helps”.

“I work for my mum; I do cleaning two days a week and I do nannying on the other three days,” Ashlee says. “My mum works in a townhouse complex in Greenway and the strata committee let me put bins in their bin room so I collect them there.”

Ashlee bought her own apartment four years ago but due to Covid and building delays, she only moved in last September. She stores the hundreds of collected cans and bottles in her neighbour’s garage and when she has spare time on the weekend (which is rare as she also does babysitting), she takes them to an automated collection depot in either Queanbeyan or Phillip.

“I do fortnightly or monthly drop-offs, depending on how many containers I collect,” Ashlee says. “I thought maybe I could start saving and see how I go. It’s helping a little bit, just having a bit of extra on the side helps. I like going to the depots; getting the cash in hand is quite satisfying.”

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