A canner who goes by the name Morena earns about $10,000 a year by collecting bottles and cans, enough to finance her 'second life' as a celebrity on the Latina party circuit.

She Makes Her Living 5 Cents at a Time

By
Francesca Berardi
WNYC News | Aug 8, 2018

New York is a hard place to be poor in, but thousands of people see treasure where others see trash. They call themselves canners, or lateros, or hui shou ren, depending on their language. They make a living redeeming empty cans and bottles, five cents at a time.

Francesca Berardi spent more than a year following canners while a fellow at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation and tells us the story of one of them, Morena, a woman with a secret in her closet ... literally.

Click the "Listen" button to hear the story. For stories about other canners, go to We Can NYC.

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Francesca Berardi

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