Boys continue bottle caps collection for CF research
Daniel Pellizzari has been gathering metal caps for seven years
Bottle caps and beverage can tabs fill trash cans, recycling boxes, even a deep freezer at Daniel Pellizzari’s Stoney Creek home.
The steel and aluminum disks and tabs have been gathering for the last three years as Daniel, 13, and friend Matthew Tirabassi, 11, strive toward two goals — to set a record for the world’s heaviest collection of metal bottle caps and then to sell the entire collection to raise research money for the battle against cystic fibrosis, the inherited lung disease Matthew has been fighting his entire life.
Daniel has been working on his project for seven years. Three years ago he met Matthew, and suddenly personal recognition wasn’t enough.
“It would be cool to be in the world record book, but I also know Matthew has this disease so I wanted to help,” Daniel whispered.
Daniel gathered about 363 kilograms of metal before shifting his focus from personal glory to disease fighting.
Matthew had been working on his own collection for about 18 months before meeting Daniel. He had gathered about 136 kilograms. Together, they managed to horde about 500 kilograms. At a going rate of roughly 22 cents per kilogram they thought they’d raised about $120.
When their story was first publicized in The Spectator, in August 2013, they had gathered nearly a tonne of steel bottle caps. With a flood of caps out of local basements, garages and attics, and two large cash gifts, they were able to donate more than $1,800. Those gifts included $1,000 from an unidentified Ancaster resident with ties to the scrap metal industry and $500 from a downtown business operator.
There is no world record for the largest collection of metal bottle caps and can tabs.
Since then, the effort continues to attract a small tsunami of contributions from beer stores, Catholic elementary schools, restaurants and Italian social clubs across the region.
That’s in addition to the contributions of friends, family and strangers, like the anonymous supporter who contributed a 160-pound pail of caps and tabs.
“She just dropped this off at a beer store and vanished,” said Enrico Tirabassi, Matthew’s father.
“I’ve got a deep freezer full of them that I can’t even move,” said Dennis Pellizzari, Daniel’s father. “A lot of businesses across the city have been really supportive of this effort.”
Florence Pellizzari, Daniel’s mother, said the story has struck a real chord with the community.
“When you have kids helping kids I think it really moves people to see that children still have values,” she said. “Daniel was motivated because he felt compassion for his friend.”
Dennis Pellizzari estimated he had about 136 kilograms of metal on hand last week. A couple of times a year, he takes up to about 360 kilograms a trip to Triple M Metal Recycling where Ron MacTavish, the company’s vice president for ferrous operations, buys the entire load.
“He gives us a little more than the market price every time we go there,” said Sandra Tirabassi, Matthews’s mother. “He has supported us from the very beginning.”
Enrico Tirabassi said the tabs command a better price because they are pure metal.
Matthew Tirabassi says he is “happy” with what they’ve accomplished so far and plans to continue the effort as long as he can.
Cystic fibrosis is an inherited and fatal disease. It affects the lungs, where it causes a buildup of thick mucus that makes breathing difficult. It also causes a buildup of mucus and protein in the digestive tract, making it difficult to absorb nutrients from food.