Recycling for cancer

Garbage can save a child with cancer, says Alex Arche, president of the Chocho Foundation, at the same time he climbs down a trailer truck with bags full of aluminum cans.

Bottles of soda, beer, mineral water, and juice are stacked up on a warehouse. All these bottles will be used to make the outline of an eagle on a 2,000-square-meter surface. Once the outline is complete, the containers will be recycled and the funds will be donated to treat children with cancer .

There between 5,000 and 6,000 new cases of cancer in minors every year. The different types of leukemia are the main cause of the disease, accounting for 52% of the cases.

Cancer

is the leading cause of death in Mexican children between the ages 5 to 14, with an average of 2,150 deaths a year over the past 10 years.

The campaign “Dale lata al cancer” (roughly, "A Can for Cancer") launched during the first days of January and Alex Arche has thus far gathered 600,000 cans but his goal is one million.

He explains that you can sell a kilogram of aluminum – close to 60 cans – for MXN$15 (USD$0.80) or MXN$18 (USD$1).

“The funds raised will be used in the treatment of minors with cancer. Treatment for this disease is expensive but every little help counts. We think donating a can is a good, easy way in which people can get involved. Something we think of as trash can save the life of a kid with cancer, and the resources we raise can make the difference between life and death,” he says.

The creator of the campaign details that 15 private companies and 5 federal agencies – such as the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of National Defense – have joined his cause.

This Sunday is the last day people can go to the Bicentennial Park to make their donations.

The foundation signed an agreement with the Ministry of the Environment to install recollection centers across Mexico City's boroughs, as well as in the ecological parks Bicentennial and San Antonio.

Arche says that there is a lot of mistrust in Mexican society towards organizations, as they many times refuse to donate in cash, thus, the idea of donating aluminum cans.

The president of the Chocho Foundations spoke about his intentions of making this a permanent campaign, aiming to gather cans across the 32 states of the Mexican Republic.

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