Maybe you’ve seen a cardboard box for the Ronald McDonald House in your breakroom.
Maybe you’ve been told by your neighbor’s kid that there’s the same amount of money in this part compared to the entire rest of the trash you’re throwing out.
What if we told you that you’re basically wasting your time?
We’re talking about COLLECTING SODA CAN PULL TABS FOR CHARITY.
Look, we know you think you’re doing good work. You have a soda, you dutifully put the can tab into the box that you’re collecting over the year to donate to your favorite charity. And this is legit – those pull tabs ARE worth money when you bring them to the recycler.
But the question you should ask yourself is this:
HOW MUCH MONEY CAN WE GET FROM RECYCLING SODA CAN PULL TABS?
The answer is, “not as much as you think”.
Prices we’ve found are estimated by approximately 1 MILLION PULL TABS being sent to the recycler, and these prices end up being a “by the pound” rate.
How much are we talking? Try between $350 – $450 dollars…. For 1,000,000 cans of soda. About 41,000 CASES of soda. 83,000 twelve packs. (Estimates are that you should expect about $0.75 per pound, give or take.)
So, looking at the big picture here — yes, continue to collect the tabs for charity. There’s actual money there that you wouldn’t have otherwise. But maybe try throwing in a few hundred dollars on your own instead of that extra 1000 cases of soda.
Nobody needs to drink that much soda, and the charities will appreciate you thinking of them.