Join us for real insight into the challenges of being a canner in NYC and how potential changes to the NYS Bottle Bill could affect their work and recycling across the City.

Hear from Ryan Castiglia - Executive Director of Sure We Can, Josefa Marin - President and Co-Founder of the Alliance of  Independent Recyclers of NYC and Blair Horner - Executive Director of the NY Public Interest Research Group, as they share their insights along with the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Ryan Castalia is an artist and advocate that currently serves as Executive Director of Sure We Can, New York’s only nonprofit directly serving canners—the folks who collect bottles and cans to earn income. Using approaches learned through the nonprofit world, activism, art practice, and from the community of canners he serves, Ryan seeks to create the conditions for a more compassionate and sustainable world to emerge.

Josefa Marin is a full-time canner of 16 years and a member of Sure We Can’s Board of Directors. She is the President and a co-founder of the Alliance of Independent Recyclers of NYC, through which she has mentored new canners, as well as helped draft, present, and ratify the first ever organized constitution representing informal recyclers worldwide, all while canning daily. Josefa offers her personal experience and insights into the lives and needs of canners to guide Sure We Can’s work, programs, and advocacy.