The View from a Drawbridge

The random musings of an autistic bridgetender with entirely too much time on her hands.

The Worst Urban Legend – Soda Can Tabs

I saw it again the other day, and it made me so sad. A group was collecting soda can tabs because they honestly and genuinely and truly believed that this would help someone. I don’t know if they thought it would get someone time on a kidney dialysis machine, or defray the cost of chemotherapy…

I saw it again the other day, and it made me so sad. A group was collecting soda can tabs because they honestly and genuinely and truly believed that this would help someone. I don’t know if they thought it would get someone time on a kidney dialysis machine, or defray the cost of chemotherapy or provide some desperately needed medical prosthetic, but the fact is they are suffering from a delusion.

The soda can tab myth is one of the most heartbreakingly persistent urban legends out there. It preys on people’s natural instinct to want to help those in need, and it causes a great deal of effort for very little return. People are under the illusion that the aluminum in can tabs is somehow “more pure” than that of the rest of the can. Not. It’s also an alloy. And since no organization, repeat, NO ORGANIZATION will give you more than the normal recycle value for your aluminum, you’d be much better off collecting the entire can rather than just the tab. Because as this article in Snopes.com will tell you, 100 pull tabs will get you approximately 3 ½ cents. It would be even better to get people do donate a penny instead of a pull tab. That way you’d at least get a dollar.

The reason these types of collections make me so despondent is that people want to believe in them so desperately that when you try to disabuse them of this misinformation, they usually refuse to hear you. They get very emotional about it. They continue their collection, using up time and effort, and then only realize the truth when it’s too late. All that energy and good intention could have been directed elsewhere, and all they are left with is a great deal of embarrassment.

If you are hellbent on continuing with your soda can tab campaign, there’s not much I can do to stop you. So I simply ask that before you go through all the hassle, you get a confirmation, in writing, directly from the source of your expected windfall. And, uh… good luck with that.

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19 responses to “The Worst Urban Legend – Soda Can Tabs”

  1. pouringmyartout Avatar
    pouringmyartout

    You did a good deed.

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      I hope so.

      Reply
      1. pouringmyartout Avatar
        pouringmyartout

        can’t hurt

  2. tina Avatar
    tina

    We have a colletsohn going on in gonzales

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      Well… um… good luck with that.

      Reply
  3. Pop tabs can help Avatar
    Pop tabs can help

    You’re technically right, but I think most charities already know that. On a Ronald McDonald House Charities website, it says, “Although the whole aluminum can is valuable, the tab is cleaner and smaller, making it easier to collect in large quantities than whole cans.” If enough people are involved, over time, even pop tabs can add up to thousands of dollars, and sometimes people are more willing to collect their pop tabs than donate money.

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      I don’t even think most people drink soda out of cans anymore…

      Reply
      1. cupcake Avatar
        cupcake

        No, they still do.

  4. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    While I don’t collect them for charity, I do throw them in a quart bottle. I understand that some people use them for craft projects but I’m not into that. Good info in your post – glad to know I didn’t save them for charity – I’d have been disappointed.

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      Yeah, I fear too many people have been disappointed over the years, and that’s a shame, because their intentions were good.

      Reply
  5. blake Avatar
    blake

    you’re missing a large bit of context here: the tabs arent supposed to have worth in themselves, but theyre more of a token of affection. can tabs are supposed to be a sign of good will, that you wish good things upon whoever you give the tab to.

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      Be that as it may, I’d rather have my good will translate into a concrete, tangible benefit for the cause, especially if so much effort is being put in.

      Reply
  6. Kevin Rowe Avatar
    Kevin Rowe

    It’s not for raising money. It’s for melting down the aluminum to create prosthetics….

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      Once again, “People are under the illusion that the aluminum in can tabs is somehow “more pure” than that of the rest of the can. Not. It’s also an alloy… you’d be much better off collecting the entire can rather than just the tab.”

      Reply
    2. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      And, by the way, the very LAST thing you want your prosthetics made from is a weak metal like aluminum. And how many thousands of tabs would you need to make one flimsy prosthetic? And why not use entire cans for your flimsy prosthetic?

      Reply
  7. Brian Avatar
    Brian

    if you want the more solid part of the can you’d do better to delid the can. I worked in industrial manufacturing and to be flat the lid has magnesium in the lid to be flat instead of the domed bottom. I melt the lids into bricks for casting projects and the pop tops get melted into junk bricks for the scrap yard. it’s solid stuff but not very pure.

    Reply
    1. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
      The View from a Drawbridge

      You are the first person I’ve come across who has had a practical use for this stuff. Thank you for that!
      My main goal is to stop people wasting energy on these fundraisers without having a guaranteed source for turning it into money. So much time gets wasted in these collections that it is heartbreaking.

      Reply
      1. Shel Avatar
        Shel

        You’re too focused on the tabs, dude.
        Focus on all of the other factors that go into it: community, environmentalism, fitness, recreation…
        Yeah, tabs are inefficient as Hell, but so are you. You wasted a whole page in what would’ve only needed a single paragraph to explain.

      2. The View from a Drawbridge Avatar
        The View from a Drawbridge

        First of all , I wrote this post in 2015 so saying that I’m too focused on soda can tabs is a little rich.
        And it’s not like this is print media, so no paper was used, and my time is my own.
        If you feel that time was wasted, it seems that time was yours, and it was wasted reading something you felt was too long to its bitter end with the sole intention of being critical of its length.
        Perhaps examine more closely what activities give you Joy, because it says quite a bit about you.
        In contrast, my time on this post was spent trying to divert people’s time away from wasted efforts and toward better fundraising efforts that would more greatly benefit their causes.
        Best wishes to you.

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