A Call for Cans!

Attention Southeast Georgia!

In the beginning of my Trash for Turtles project, I collected aluminum cans to recycle for money to donate to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Each year since, I’ve collected aluminum cans for various other organizations. My project may have ended, but I’m still collecting aluminum cans and still donating money to marine conservation organizations. This year all of the money collected from aluminum cans is going to the Caretta Research Project on Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge. So, if you have any aluminum cans that you can donate or start collecting, this is a great way to support marine conservation programs in Georgia. Better yet, do what my family does – remove the tabs for your local Ronald McDonald house and give the rest of your cans to help my cause. Then you are supporting two amazing efforts!

If you are interested in donating cans, please reach out to me through this contact form and we will arrange pickup of your cans.

In honor of my “call for cans,” here’s a few fun facts about aluminum cans you may not know:

1. The element aluminum was first isolated in 1825 by Hans Christian Ørsted in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2. Aluminum is very chemically reactive and is rarely found in its pure form.
3. In 60 days or less, an aluminum can can be completely recycled and back on the shelf.
4. 97% of all beverage cans are aluminum.
5. Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
6. Recycling aluminum saves 92% of the energy that would be needed to create a new can.
7. Aluminum is one of the easiest materials to recycle, because aluminum does not oxidize. This means that over time, there will be no rust or corrosion on a can. This makes aluminum more safe to use for packaging and makes the recycling process quicker.
8. The average American throws out 61 pounds of aluminum cans every year.
9. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a computer for 3 hours.
10. If we recycled all of the aluminum cans in the U.S., the energy saved could power 4.1 million homes for a full year.