The Can Man

Judi Bishop

Felix Bruno is something of a legend in Carbon and Emery counties and if you don’t know him by name, you’ve probably seen him a time or two over the years, a solitary figure on the side of the road picking up cans.

Bruno didn’t set out to be known as the Can Man, in fact picking up other people’s litter only came about after heart problems spurred him to begin walking for exercise.

Some 20 years ago Bruno began his walking trek along the roadways in Carbon and Emery County and along the way started collecting the aluminum cans he found along the way.

“As I was walking along I would notice all the things that there are in the bar ditch,” he said. “I began picking up the cans and upon returning to my pickup I would toss them in the back. The next day out I would gather more and so began the filling of the plastic garbage sacks. I also noticed many other items while walking and decided there was gold in them there roads,” he laughed with a glint in his eye.

Over the 20 year trek and thousands of miles on his legs he collected more than 3 million cans, along with somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 hubcaps and numerous other items.

He said he has found wallets, purses, oars, beach towels, life jackets and countless other items and wondered how these things weren’t missed by the owners.

His walking took him all over the roads in Carbon and Emery counties, along with down around Crescent Junction and the Moab area. He has an amazing collection of items that he has picked up along with his cans.

It is with a good deal of humor that he related how he used to mark where he would stop his walking for the day with a drink cup with rocks, sand or other items to hold it from blowing away until he returned the next day to continue his journey. With his marking of the trail the story somehow traveled all the way to Boise, Idaho that there were aliens leaving drink cups with sand in them along the roadways of Carbon and Emery counties.

“When I heard that one, I laughed until I was sick. I have been called a lot of things, but now I was an alien from outer space.”

With his can money Bruno said he has bought three or four vehicles over the years. “That made me feel good and that made it worth it,” Bruno said.

In his kitchen there are several items that he has picked up along the way, from eye glasses, to cameras, jewelry, bottles, ash trays and many others.

According to Bruno he has only sold one million of his cans and before he sells them he is meticulous about preparing them for the aluminum plant.

He cleans the cans and makes sure there is nothing in them and then he scatters them in his driveway and runs his truck back and forth over them, smashing them flat. He then scoops them up with a snow shovel and bags them in yard bags. He built sides for his truck and also pens in the back of his property to hold all of his treasures until they are to go to the meltdown. He waits for the aluminum price to go up before hauling them in.

Jason Bruno, his grandson, says he loves to listen to the stories of his grandfather. “When my sister and I would come to stay from Glenwood Springs, it was an adventure to go with him. It was fascinating to have him tell of his years growing up. He is an amazing guy!”

Bruno in his youth only went to school until the 7th grade. When his father passed away leaving a family of 10 children, some of them had to go to work and help and he was one of them. He helped his uncle with his sheep herds for many years, then worked in the coke ovens and the washer plant until retirement.

But even in retirement he found a profession of sorts that has been both rewarding and adventurous as he slowly picked up the title of Can Man, one can at a time.

Today, at 84, he no longer spends seven to eight hours a day walking the roadways in search of treasure, but the gleam in his eyes tells you that he would like to be.