Man with world's largest crisp packet collection says he's 'packeting it in'
A dad who has amassed the world's largest collection of empty crisp packets is calling it a day - after collecting a whopping 24,000.
Gary Key, 60, started the unique hobby as a coping mechanism when his partner Joanne was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 2012. After Joanne passed away, Gary - whose favourite flavour is Walkers' ready salted - vowed to keep collecting. But as his youngest child Alisha, 15, is leaving school this year, Gary has decided to stop collecting, a decision he says has made him sad.
He said: "I think not collecting them is really going to get to me. I might have to go back to it as it's just a habit now. I think I'll automatically start saving the packets of crisp." On average, the former University of Hull worker collects 279 crisp packets a month and will sometimes pick them up from the street.
He even said that people even sometimes will save their packets so Gary can add them to his collection. Gary said: "I sometimes will pick up a decent packet if it's on the floor. I once picked something up and a litter warden actually asked me if I had dropped it. I had to tell him that I was collecting them - I could have got a £100 fine for it."
A dad has amassed the world's largest collection of empty crisp packets (Gary Key/SWNS.COM)"But I told him to look on the CCTV to see me picking it up - the cameras never lie. I'm very good at recycling. Alisha takes a packet of crisp to school and then brings it home - but she might come home with another few packets that her friends have given her. So the message has got across."
Mum with terminal cancer wants to see son 'write his first word' before she dies
Gary grills every packet of crisp, rolls them into small balls and then puts them away in a storage container. He's said he's going to keep the amazing collection and would like to make a water feature in aid of a cancer charity. Gary, who is also dad to three sons, said: "I can't lift the boxes - I would need to be the world's strongest man."
"People always think that they will sink but they actually float. I want to do something with them for a cancer charity - like putting them in a fountain or something. They are colourful so it would work. I just don't know what I'll do with them but I could make a water feature."
Gary Key with his huge collection of empty crisp packets (Gary Key/SWNS.COM)When Gary started his unique hobby, Joanne him a 'nutter' but was soon on board. He now thinks she would be 'astonished' if she knew how big his collection had got. Gary, of Cottingham, East Yorkshire, said: "I wanted them to say 'don't worry, she'll be back on her feet in six months' but that wasn't the case unfortunately."
"She would be astonished - she once called me a nutter for collecting them. If she could come out of that grave, she would be saying wow."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
