John and Ann Till said they collected more than 60,000 pieces of recycling during their springtime scavenging to earn 36,000 British Airways miles by turning the cans and bottles in at Tesco grocery stores, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

"We would nip out to the pub and take a long route coming back," John Till said. "We soon found out where the best places were to pick up rubbish. It was mainly things like cans, Coke bottles and cans of lager."

"At the very beginning we thought it was going to be impossible to do, but as we were getting more and more points and working it out in our heads as we went along we realized it was going to be possible," he said.

The couple used the points to fly business class home from the United States after taking the Queen Mary 2 to New York on a honeymoon that included visits to Denver and Nashville.