Xander Oxford, 10, is collecting bottles and cans and earning money for them through the state government’s Return and Earn scheme.

While 10 cents per returned bottle and can does not sound like much, Xander’s dedication to the scheme has already earned him $200 in five short weeks.

“Xander started collecting cans around home, from people in the community and doing clean ups of the local sports fields and has been cashing them in at the Return and Earn [machine] in Medowie,” Nicholas McLaren, Xander’s dad, said.

“He plans to keep recycling and start approaching local business that would have a lot of cans or bottles thrown away each week in an effort to improve his earnings.”

When it gets cooler he also plans to sell chocolates to raise money.

The money Xander is raising will fund a trip to England in September. The young footballer has been selected to play and train with the youth academy part of English Premier League football club West Ham United.

“I’m looking froward to it,” Xander said.

Xander, a goalkeeper, started his football career with Raymond Terrace Soccer Club. He was selected for the Hunter Valley Football’s skills acquisition program (SAP) in 2015.

This season, Xander’s third in the SAP program, he will play with Newcastle in the under-11 team.

That will require three days of training, plus two games on the weekend against the Emerging Jets, Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie SAP teams.

Xander was selected for the West Ham United Tour to England late last year.

Mid-2017 he attended a regional camp run by West Ham United. 

This was one of 13 camps held in the Oceania area. 

He was then invited to the national camp held on the Gold Coast in September. 

Around  350 young athletes attended the national event.

Of that 350, just 50 are selected to attend the international camp that will be held in London in September.

The two week tour to England will include training at the England Football Association’s national centre, playing games against West Ham’s young academy teams of a similar ability, stadium tours, and watching four EPL game.

The cost to attend the trip is $6500 per person.

Xander will make the trip with his grandfather.

The young footballer is asking members of the community and businesses to help fund his trip to England through bottle and can donations.

Anyone interested in donating their cans and bottles to Xander so he can return earn from them is asked to phone 0410 326 231.