How to Donate Can Tabs for Charity

Can tabs can be found on soda cans, Pringles containers and soup cans. These tabs are not more valuable than the soda cans themselves, though urban legends continue to suggest that they are. The tabs can be collected and donated to a few reputable charities, however it takes an enormous number of tabs to add up to an appreciable amount. In March 2009, Snopes.com reported that 100 tabs earns about 3 ½ cents. If you choose to collect tabs, you'll want to get a lot of them.

Things You'll Need

• Coffee cans or other collection containers Can tabs

Instructions

1. Wash out old coffee cans and cut a slits in the lids. These will be your collection containers.

2. Decide which charity you want to support. There are a few charities that accept can tabs. Two such institutions are the Ronald McDonald House and Shriners Hospitals for Children. You can check your local charities by giving them a call and asking if they accept can tabs.

3. Take your coffee cans and ask your friends to help you collect the can tabs. Then take some cans to local businesses to find out if they would be willing to collect tabs as well. Be sure to label the coffee cans with the name of the charity you are collecting tabs for. The more coffee cans you hand out, the more tabs you will collect.

4. Collect the tabs once a month. Give the can back so that the individual can continue to collect tabs. After you have collected a quantity of tabs, take them to the organization you have collected them for. Or you might take them to a recycling center, and then send the redeemed amount to the charity of your choice.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with Ronald McDonald House for cardboard collection containers. They have given these out to those who wants to collect tabs for them.

• You cannot collect tabs for dialysis machines. This is a popular myth that was proven to be false.

References

• Collecting Can Tabs for Ronald McDonald House