Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

cans for cambodia

Kamloops-based Cans for Cambodia collects one-millionth container

Oct 22, 2024 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Each week in Kamloops, dozens of households that have accumulated cans and bottles for recycling call or text Shawn Pooley to haul away the empties.

He’s the founder of ‘Cans for Cambodia’, a project that gives the bottle deposit money to families who need help paying for their childrens’ education, medical bills or other expenses in Cambodia and other countries. And on Tuesday (Oct. 22), Cans for Cambodia hit a new milestone, collecting one million cans in less than four years.

Pooley says the original goal was to collect one million empties in five years and started as a challenge posed to him by a friend several years ago.

“On January 1, 2021, we started the count at zero and every can, bottle, plastic — anything that’s refundable that has come through the bottle depots that I’ve brought in… I’ve got a ledger, I’ve got a book and I keep track of the count. A meticulous count.”

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With the hours put into picking up recyclables and money raised to help out those in need, Cans for Cambodia has become far more than a charitable hobby.

“Probably 15 hours a week, just driving around in my car picking up empties,” Pooley says, when asked how much time he spends on it.

Every week, bags of recyclables are collected from friends, family, local businesses and strangers who heard about the project from others. For instance, Tuesday’s one million milestone can came from Zach Moffat, a friend in Pooley’s ball hockey league who has become a regular contributor.

The one million count and the ‘Cans for Cambodia’ name started only a few years ago but the project in its entirety started in 2013 after Pooley took a trip to Cambodia and saw that some of the friends he made along the way needed a hand.

“A couple years in, it branched off into helping other Cambodian families,” explains Pooley, “even to the point where we helped families in Thailand, Vietnam and South Africa, as well.”

Meangol Yin is one of those people. Cans for Cambodia has helped the single mother cover tuition costs for her two daughters, Emmy and Ruby. Speaking to CFJC Today from Cambodia, Yin says it’s made a world of difference for herself and her girls.

“Sometimes I feel like it’s so hard to pay for the school because I’m alone but I feel very warm and comfortable because Shawn, he has my back. He’s helped me a lot. Too much,” she insists. “Not just only me, many families in Cambodia he’s helped.”

Just as Pooley has become a regular at the Columbia Bottle Depot, the cause has garnered regular contributors, including Ted Kowalsky, who offers up his truck and trailer for pick ups every few weeks.

“Everything he collects goes directly to that,” Kowalsky says of their time spent picking up throughout the Kamloops area. “And it’s gratifying. It makes you feel good.”

As for what comes after one million, Pooley says the goal is to keep kids in school and help out wherever possible — so rest assured, Cans for Cambodia will be back at the bottle depot with its usual haul of empties.

“We do it to get these kids a good education. And then when they get through the Cambodian education system, they can get a good job and earn more. And hopefully the cycle of poverty for their families ends because they have opportunities that their parents didn’t have,” he adds.

Cans for Cambodia can be reached through its social media pages, or at cansforcambodia@gmail.com.