Gaming consoles aren't cheap, especially in developing countries in South America such as Chile. But one savvy young man found a way to get himself a new Nintendo Switch and help the planet at the same time, recycling.

A Chilean boy who was desperate to get his hands on a new console took it upon himself to make that happen. He collected and recycled enough aluminum cans to buy a Nintendo Switch and a copy of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

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Benja, from Lo Prado, Santiago in Chile, collected aluminum cans over the course of 9 months. He kept track of how much he had collected, recycled, and earned in a detailed notebook, according to a post on Instagram from his sister, who had been helping him to collect them and take them to a nearby recycling drop-off, all in the pursuit of that coveted Nintendo Switch and the nineteenth installment of The Legend of Zelda franchise.

Benja and his sister collected and recycled a whopping estimate of around 495.13kg of cans. To put that into perspective, that's almost half a ton or half the weight of a 1979 Volkswagen Beetle. With console prices in South American countries being notoriously high, it makes Benja's commitment to achieving his goal all the more impressive. In the Instagram post, Benja and his sister can be seen wheeling large bags of collected cans to the recycling center before an overjoyed Benja is finally given his Nintendo Switch.

A quick search of online Chilean retail outlets reveals that the average price of a Nintendo Switch in Chile can be upwards of 307,868 Chilean Pesos which is around $397 or £303. With the well-documented global supply issues surrounding the PlayStation 5, a unit in Chile can cost a staggering 509,652 Chilean Pesos which is around $660 or £502. An Xbox Series X costs around a far more reasonable $412 or £314 but that still puts Chile at 15th on the list of most expensive countries to buy an Xbox. So Benja and his sister put in some serious work to earn his console.

With the environment constantly being a global issue, this young man certainly showed his environmental awareness in the way he acquired his Switch by offsetting his carbon footprint. A major issue in gaming at the moment is reducing its impact on the environment and companies are moving slowly towards sustainability. Developer Sports Interactive is known in the industry as a pioneer in terms of recyclable packaging for its games. In 2019, it released Football Manager 2020 in fully recyclable cardboard packaging.

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Source: Nintendo Life