# soda tabs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2012, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709 "2012-11-21T10:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ijoey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6f9a4e/32.png) [@ijoey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ijoey)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/1 "2012-11-21T10:37:09Z")
I was just wondering if anyone knows where I can send my soda can tabs to help out people who need it. I have been giving them to my aunt under the understanding that it was for people to get wheelchairs…here now it is for Geisinger hospital to build a new wing. B.s.! I want to help out the less fortunate…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/2 "2012-11-21T10:44:06Z")
Simply send a $20 donation to the charity of your choice. That should just about cover the value of all the pop tabs you’ll generate over a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/3 "2012-11-21T10:48:21Z")
Snopes on [soda tabs.](http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/pulltabs.asp) Think about it, why would they want just the tab when the whole can can be sold for recycling? Like it’s been suggested, send money. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/4 "2012-11-21T11:00:50Z")
Some charities are now collecting the tabs to be shipped out to developing countries and upcycled into craft items such as chains, for eventual resale. They’re even collecting empty juice cartons, toothpaste tubes, etc for this sort of use now. ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/5 "2012-11-21T15:09:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Some charities are now collecting the tabs to be shipped out to developing countries and upcycled into craft items such as chains, for eventual resale. > > They’re even collecting empty juice cartons, toothpaste tubes, etc for this sort of use now. I thought I recognized that empty tube of Mentadent the Somali Pirate on the news was wearing around his neck last night… ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/6 "2012-11-23T01:45:03Z")
Unless you are making a mega-shipment of tabs or have somewhere local to drop them off, the postage will be more than the tabs are worth. Instead of paying the postage, send the charity a check for the postage amount. (Yes, it will cost 45 cents to mail the check.) Then drop off the tabs at a local recycling center or put them in your curbside recycling if you have it. Or just send the $20 as **Rachellelogram** suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/7 "2012-11-23T01:47:10Z")
If you _really_ want to recycle, why not save the entire goddam can and forget the tabs? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/8 "2012-11-23T06:58:25Z")
> [@qualityleashdog](#): > > I thought I recognized that empty tube of Mentadent the Somali Pirate on the news was wearing around his neck last night… Toothpaste tubes (the modern plastic kind) are cut open, cleaned, folded flat to yield a small sheet of tough vinyl, which can then be sewn together with others - patchwork style - into small coin purses, pencil cases, etc. Juice boxes and tetra cartons are cut spirally into long strips, then woven into baskets and handbags. I’ve participated in several drives to collect items like these - and I’ve seen the end products on sale. I would recommend only participating if you can trace where they are actually going, because some of these campaigns dry up at target, but continue to be deluged by raw materials collected by friends-of-friends. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/9 "2012-11-23T07:00:09Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > If you _really_ want to recycle, why not save the entire goddam can and forget the tabs? Like was already suggested three hours prior to your post? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/10 "2012-11-23T13:30:47Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Like was already suggested three hours prior to your post? Like what is being ignored by most posters? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/11 "2012-11-23T16:07:31Z")
Snopes doesn’t always give crisp reasoning for discrediting a myth, but this paragraph puts it quite concisely: (From [the article linked to earlier](http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/pulltabs.asp)) > [@snopes](#): > > A million pull tabs have a recycle value of about $366 U.S. And that’s before you factor in what it costs to collect, store, and transport them to a recycling center which will pay cash for them. When you consider the time and effort it takes to collect a million of _anything_, it’s a wonder anyone would go to all that trouble for a mere $366. **Far better to ask everyone you know for a penny in place of each pull tab they would have given you—at least then when you were done collecting your million, you’d have $10,000 to donate to your charity.** (bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![Chilliwack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@Chilliwack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chilliwack)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/12 "2012-11-23T23:41:54Z")
It was a similar drive that was collecting bread bag clips that clued me into how these fundraisers actually work. In this case, the bread manufacturer (is it still a bakery at such large scale?) would donate a certain amount per tab collected to the charity in question. What’s in it for them? Large bread sales, while letting the consumer feel like THEY’RE the ones doing the charitable thing. I’m sure at some point, some drink producer somewhere started this scheme, and it took off like wildfire, only to have its roots lost. I’m sure there are a lot of high schools with a lot of pop tabs that they aren’t quite sure what to do with… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/13 "2012-11-23T23:53:32Z")
Similarly, Yoplait Yogurt has a program in cooperation with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, in which the company donates ten cents to fight breast cancer for every yogurt lid sent in by consumers, up to a maximum donation of $2.5 million. So the consumers need to collect and clean all those lids before spending the money to mail them in. Meanwhile the company spends millions to advertise this great, very generous program they have. Never mind that if they just cancelled the ad campaign and donated the money they would have spent, more money would be raised. So obviously these things are about making the consumer feel good when they’re buying your product. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/14 "2012-11-24T00:02:57Z")
> [@Chilliwack](#): > > I’m sure at some point, some drink producer somewhere started this scheme, and it took off like wildfire, only to have its roots lost. I’m sure there are a lot of high schools with a lot of pop tabs that they aren’t quite sure what to do with… I’m certain you’re right, from personal experience - I asked a handful of friends/family members to collect plastic bottle tops for me (I was recycling them myself on a small scale) - I explicitly told them NOT to rally any other people to collect… but you can guess what happened - dozens and dozens of people keep giving me huge bags of them, way beyond my capacity to deal with them - and I can’t make it stop. Even some of the people I told outright that the project had finished, promptly forgot and started collecting again. ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/15 "2012-11-24T05:05:13Z")
> **[Will saving pull tabs earn free kidney dialysis for needy patients?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341843/will-saving-pull-tabs-earn-free-kidney-dialysis-for-needy-patients)** And just to be a jackass: > [@](#): > > 1. Before opening a new thread, search the archives! There are thousands of threads in GQ (searchable here), and over 2,000 questions (with answers) in the archives of Cecil’s columns and Staff Reports (searchable here). Many threads in GQ never need to have been opened, and the OP could have received a complete answer more quickly by spending a little time in the archives. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/16 "2012-11-24T05:35:03Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/17 "2012-11-24T07:38:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Some charities are now collecting the tabs to be shipped out to developing countries and upcycled into craft items such as chains, for eventual resale. > > They’re even collecting empty juice cartons, toothpaste tubes, etc for this sort of use now. Is using the tabs for crafts greenwashing? Unlike say, plastics, aluminium is easily recyclable with no loss in quality and huge savings in electricity. Spending the time to collect tabs and preventing them from being recycled makes no sense. Also, I’ve seen bags made of those. The tabs are only used for decoration, and about as practical as a Velcro suit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/18 "2012-11-24T10:06:58Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Is using the tabs for crafts greenwashing? I don’t think so, but I guess it would depend on whether you define ‘greenwashing’ to include any kind of upcycling, for any reason. I’ve only really seen these collecting activities appearing under a banner of charity trying to support developing communities - it might indeed be a misguided attempt at that, but that’s a different question. > [@](#): > > Unlike say, plastics, aluminium is easily recyclable with no loss in quality and huge savings in electricity. Spending the time to collect tabs and preventing them from being recycled makes no sense. Not necessarily true. The value of a manufactured item nearly always exceeds the cost of the raw materials from which it is made. For example, a steel bolt is worth more than the cost of the metal used to make it, because of its utility as a bolt. If (as may or may not be the case) soda tabs have utility for upcycling, it could concievably be worth diverting them from the waste/recycling stream. > [@](#): > > Also, I’ve seen bags made of those. The tabs are only used for decoration, and about as practical as a Velcro suit. not sure what you’re describing. I’m talking about items made entirely, or predominantly out of aluminium tabs - like this: [http://itssustainablefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pulltabs.jpg](http://itssustainablefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pulltabs.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/19 "2012-11-24T12:53:47Z")
Yes, reuse before recycle. But only if soda tabs are useful in that form. From an image search, most bags have a liner, otherwise they’d catch on anything you put inside. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709/20 "2012-11-24T14:55:09Z")
Sure - and the linings, where necessary can be made from reclaimed textiles (which are also collected and shipped to developing countries in bulk. To be clear: I doubt very many collection schemes, especially those in America, are for this purpose. Those that are, are not ‘greenwashing’ - they’re charity efforts, perhaps not very effective ones. The end products definitely have eco-cachet, and the market here plays to the desires of consumers to appear environmentally conscious. There’s really not much point arguing that these schemes don’t exist, because they do. Here’s one, for example: [https://freedomcenter.org/shop/?page\_id=3&category=6](https://freedomcenter.org/shop/?page_id=3&category=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-tabs/641709.md?page=2)