The Truth About Pop Tabs

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One afternoon I walked into the break room of the nursing home where I volunteer, and a new display on a table caught my eye. It included a canister along with a sign. “Donate your pop tabs here”, it said. “One tab provides one minute of chemotherapy for a child.”

Hmm. While this sounds like a wonderful program, I knew it couldn’t possibly be true. We quickly realized that a well-meaning employee had fallen for an urban legend that has gone around for decades.

There are a few different versions of the myth. One says the pop tabs provide free dialysis treatments. Another claims the tabs will be melted down to make a wheelchair for a child in need.

The truth is that there’s nothing magical about a pop tab. When recycled, it’s only worth the usual value of the aluminum it contains.

As an example, it takes about 1200 pop tabs to make a pound. While rates vary, recycling centers in my community currently pay around 30 cents for a pound of aluminum.

After reading these facts, you’ll probably be surprised to learn that the nursing home employees chose to continue collecting pop tabs. They now donate them to our local Ronald McDonald House.

If you’re not familiar with Ronald McDonald Houses, they’re homes where families can stay at little or no cost when their children are hospitalized. Ronald McDonald Charities provide other services, too, like family rooms in hospitals and mobile health units.

Yes, Ronald McDonald charities do collect pop tabs. That’s not an urban legend!

Since they receive such an enormous number of donations, it amounts to a significant amount of money to help support their services. For example, the pop tab program of the Twin Cities in Minnesota has raised more than $500,000 since it’s inception.

So, you’re probably wondering why Ronald McDonald Houses choose to collect just the pop tab instead of the entire pop can. For one thing, the tabs are a lot easier to store. Also, it’s much cleaner than collecting cans that often contain pop residue.

Would your organization like to collect pop tabs for Ronald McDonald Houses? Here are a few tips to consider:

• Your local Ronald McDonald House may be able to provide containers, posters, and flyers to promote your project.
• Check to see which businesses in your community collect the tabs. It could be a Ronald McDonald House or a McDonald’s restaurant. Not all franchises choose to participate.
• Be careful not to encourage people to drink more pop because of this program. It should simply be a means of collecting the tabs from the pop people would drink anyway.
• See if you have a resident or two who would like to help by removing the tabs from the pop cans at your facility. (You’ll want them to wear gloves.)

Have you ever fallen for a pop tab urban legend? Do you collect tabs for Ronald McDonald Houses? Please share your stories in the comment section.