Friday, April 25, 2008

"Pop Tabs"

One quick request.

You know those little metal tabs on the top of coke cans (they are "pop" cans in MN - silly yankees :) )? Well, please don't ever throw them away again! They are made of pure aluminum (the rest of the can is an alloy), and are collected by the Ronald McDonald House to help fund all of the many great things that they do. I have no idea where we would be without them. They deserve any assistance to ensure other families will have access to the same benefits.

Honestly, I never thought I could feel this way about a clown. They usually give me creepy crawlies. "My name is Mack, and I'm in love with a clown."

So save them at home. Put a little box in the kitchen of your workplace to collect them. You can turn them in at any Ronald McDonald House, and if there is no RMH near you, I believe you can simply take them to any McDonalds!

Thanks!

7 comments:

mykidsmomx4 said...

Hi! Hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but I wanted to let you know about the pop tabs.

They actually are not made out of any special aluminum... it is just that it is easier for RMH to collect pop tabs than the whole can. It stemmed from the rumors several years ago that a pop tab could pay for one minute of dialysis for a sick child. It wasn't true, but because of all of the rumors, RMH started collecting them for real.

Some McDonald's might collect the tabs, but you may want to check because all of my local ones only change.

Snopes.com -Pulltabs

is a link you can follow to see more about the pop tab collection.

I only know this because I recently had this conversation with some friends who didn't want to give up their valuable pop tabs to RMH (because they wanted to keep turn them in for themselves... although they continued to throw the can itself away).

Uncle Mack said...

Wah-Waaaaah. Thanks for the heads up.

So they can't pay for days on dialysis. Oh well. RMH still collects them, though they are worth about $350-$450 per million tabs. That means you'll need to drink a helluva lot of soft drinks. :)

Unknown said...

Well, RMH says they don't collect the entire can for multiple reasons, the most important being that the cans contain a food-ish prduct and therefore can collect mold which can be dangerous to the kids staying here. No arguments from me.

:)

But on the RMH website they even state that the tabs are better aluminum.

"Why Not The Whole Can?
Pop tabs are made of higher quality aluminum than cans and may be more easily recycled. Pop tabs can make a big impact when collected in numbers, as they are smaller and cleaner than collecting cans. Cans may also collect mold, which can be a health hazard for our children staying at the House. Plus, pop tabs take up less space and are easier for us to handle when received in large volumes."

mykidsmomx4 said...

Wait a minute.. you mean two sites on the internet have conflicting information!?! I never would have guessed that possible! LOL!

:-D

Oh well... in any case collecting pop tabs is a great idea for RMH! I tried to get my kids school to have a contest to have all of the classes bring in pop tabs, but it didn't work out.
Hope you are having a good day.

Kindall

Thanks for keeping us posted!

Unknown said...

lol... who'd have thought it! :)

Either way, RMH wants pop tabs and I want our beloved readers to give them up! :)

Amanda Salazar said...

This is great info! I guess I'll just collect my tabs in one bin for the RMH and the cans in another to help mother earth :)

Testdriver said...

Or you could try this method I learned in a cow field in high school:

Once you finish drinking your beverage, smash the side of the can against your forhead. (Note: If you are an offensive lineman, it is more macho to crush the can end-to-end, but only if you aren't averse to stitches in your face).

By this method, the interior volume of the can is reduced, often to a vanishingly small figure. The diminished can now takes up much less room in your recycling bin.

If you happen to be drinking a beverage that doesn't have anesthetic properties, you might try this with the bottom of your shoe. :-)