# "Pop Tops" and Kidney Dialysis **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437 "2002-07-11T15:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/1 "2002-07-11T15:56:03Z")
You know the tops of our soda pop cans? People would pull these tops off and collect them supposedly to donate the aluminum for the National Kidney Assc., I guess, to parlay into money to buy someone time on a kidney dialysis machine… a) Is there any truth to this? b) Wouldn’t the whole aluminum can be worth a lot more? c) Where was one supposed to drop off all these tops??? Maybe some SDoper knows the inside scoop to the validity of this. I heard rumur it started off as just a cruel hoax…what’s the real scoop? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/2 "2002-07-11T16:00:14Z")
a) No. b) Yes. c) n/a This is an old chestnut of an urban legend. Snopes should have it written up. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/3 "2002-07-11T16:12:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*Snopes should have it written up. \*\* [Yup.](http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/pulltab.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/4 "2002-07-11T17:07:58Z")
Previously discussed: [Help me fight the ignorance…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=116475) ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/5 "2002-07-11T19:26:53Z")
Our newspaper has a column where they print people’s phone calls to the paper on a variety of subjects. Every so often this comes up–someone asking “where to send the can tabs to”. I have called in several times saying there is no such program, although recycled aluminum does have a value and you might want to ask your favorite charity if they want your soda cans. I also point out that the tabs have no more value and they should save the whole can. Somehow, they never publish MY call. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/6 "2002-07-11T20:29:56Z")
Is this still going around? I thought it was just around when pull tabs were on cans, not those newfangled opener-key thingys that don’t normally separate from the can. Do people really somehow get these off of hundreds and thousands of cans? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/7 "2002-07-11T20:34:07Z")
Actually, the local Ronald McDonald House DOES collect the little tabs off of modern soda cans, though what for I’m not sure. I know my science teacher collected them in high school and dropped them off successfully. So no, not dialysis, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/8 "2002-07-11T20:44:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*I thought it was just around when pull tabs were on cans, not those newfangled opener-key thingys that don’t normally separate from the can. Do people really somehow get these off of hundreds and thousands of cans? \*\* You bend it back and forth a few times. On some cans it’s easier than on others. ---
**Author:** ![Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smashed_Ice_Cream)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-tops-and-kidney-dialysis/118437/9 "2002-07-11T22:09:49Z")
OOOOH! Send your pop tops here, if you want to do something actually worthwhile with them (I send mine along, I LOVE this program.) [http://ptfh.ourfamily.com/](http://ptfh.ourfamily.com/) It’s an elementary school ongoing project to collect 11,000,000 pop tops to represent the number of people killed in the holocaust. AFAIK, they still are several million short.