“Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.

Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.”

“Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.

Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.”

“Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.

Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.”

Join us for a volunteer day to learn from Sure We Can staff and community members about the day-to-day work of bottle and can collecting and sorting. Volunteers will participate in sorting materials that will then be directly recycled! No particular special skills are required, just a willingness to get a little dirty and to help us dig through the valuable materials that others throw away! This event will take place outdoors.

Age requirements: All Ages! 14+ can join w/o guardian. Under 14 years guardian required.

“Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.

Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.”

“Riven is a documentary play about waste and the pickers working in a world where nothing is sacred. At the heart of this play are Alessandra and Melina, two waste pickers working at a cooperative somewhere in the global south where they’ve built a relationship based on friendship and survival.

Riven was born out of a research and interview process on the reality of waste pickers of Brazil – a community of invisible environmental agents responsible for picking and sorting 90% of the country's recycled materials. Although the research was initiated in Brazil, the play aims to raise awareness and give voice to the global community of pickers, accounting for more than 20 million people around the world.”

It’s crunch time for the 2025 legislative session and we need to make sure the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. We’ve made great progress; the bill has passed the NYS Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee. It’s up to us to push lawmakers and get them to keep it moving.

At noon on Monday, June 9th and Tuesday June 10th, the Bottle Bill 40 coalition will be hosting power hours on Zoom in which activists like you can get together with organizers and other passionate New Yorkers to collectively take action. Don’t worry about preparing… we’ll have scripts and materials for you to use. All you need to do is show up online for an hour and you can make a huge difference!

Register here for Monday 6/9 and Tuesday 6/10.

It’s crunch time for the 2025 legislative session and we need to make sure the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. We’ve made great progress; the bill has passed the NYS Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee. It’s up to us to push lawmakers and get them to keep it moving.

At noon on Monday, June 9th and Tuesday June 10th, the Bottle Bill 40 coalition will be hosting power hours on Zoom in which activists like you can get together with organizers and other passionate New Yorkers to collectively take action. Don’t worry about preparing… we’ll have scripts and materials for you to use. All you need to do is show up online for an hour and you can make a huge difference!

Register here for Monday 6/9 and Tuesday 6/10.

Join us for a volunteer day to learn from Sure We Can staff and community members about the day-to-day work of bottle and can collecting and sorting. Volunteers will participate in sorting materials that will then be directly recycled! No particular special skills are required, just a willingness to get a little dirty and to help us dig through the valuable materials that others throw away! This event will take place outdoors.

Age requirements: All Ages! 14+ can join w/o guardian. Under 14 years guardian required.

Join us on Weds, May 7 at the NY State Capitol in Albany to urge your state legislators to put people over plastic by passing the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act and the Bigger Better Bottle Bill. Together, these critical bills will address the crisis of planet-warming, ocean-polluting, landfill-clogging, human health-harming single-use plastics by reducing them at the source while saving taxpayers money and providing support for recycling and reuse efforts.

Join us at the Sure We Can Satellite Site for a cleanup and planting!

Celebrate Earth Day at Sure We Can! Join us for a day of fun and stewardship to celebrate our planet. From 11-1 we'll do a street clean up in the surrounding neighborhood. After an hour break for lunch, from 2-4 we'll do some seed planting for the Sure We Can garden (where we grow produce to give to our community members), and bottle and can recycle sorting to support our recycling operations. Volunteers are welcome to join for just the morning, just the afternoon, or both!

Sure We Can is a non-profit recycling center, community space and sustainability hub in Brooklyn where canners-our neighbors who collect cans and bottles from the streets to make a living-come together with the broader community through recycling, composting, gardening and the arts.

Join us on March 29th for a panel: Redeeming New York: NYS Bigger Better Bottle Bill, a conversation with Blair Horner of NYPIRG, Laurie Konwinski of Catholic Charities, and Ryan Castalia of Sure We Can, led by artist Siyan Wong.

“A multimedia exhibition exploring the lives of the “canners” who make their livelihood collecting recyclable beverage containers. Featuring the paintings of Chinese-American visual artist and activist Siyan Wong, alongside installations and video works by Wong and filmmaker Alvin Tsang. Canvases by painter Mark Gaston Pearce (chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama) explore the larger tapestry of labor in America.”

Exhibition: March 28 – May 3

We’re finally ready to open our first-ever satellite redemption center! 🎉
Join us in celebrating the grand opening on Saturday, March 1st—International Waste Pickers’ Day—with a press conference at 12 followed by a reception.

On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, grassroots volunteers and organizations will gather in Albany to urge the NY Legislature to adopt the Bigger Better Bottle Bill and the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act! These bills will help cut single-use plastic, address plastic pollution, reduce emissions, protect environmental justice communities, increase reuse, and give recycling a much-needed lifeline by making producers pay for their packaging waste.

Join us for a volunteer day to learn from Sure We Can staff and community members about the day-to-day work of bottle and can collecting and sorting. Volunteers will participate in sorting materials that will then be directly recycled! No particular special skills are required, just a willingness to get a little dirty and to help us dig through the valuable materials that others throw away!

Make sure to dress warm as this event will take place outdoors.

Age requirements: All Ages! 14+ can join w/o guardian. Under 14 years guardian required.

Support Sure We Can's end of year fundraiser for our satellite site!