This summer, the students of the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Flint, Michigan held a pull-tab drive to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The students in Ms. Dowland-Gillett’s evening Medical Insurance Billing and Office Administration class initiated the drive and, together with the entire Flint campus, was able to fill a five pound jar with thousands of pull-tabs from soda, vegetable, and fruit cans. By recycling the aluminum pull-tabs, many families are able to spend quality time with their children who are receiving care at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan without the additional burden of having to pay for a hotel room.
The students were very eager to work on collecting as many tabs as possible during the drive. One student even went to her local Wal-Mart and pulled the tabs off of the cans as the customers brought them in to be recycled! Another student is a server at a local restaurant, and the customers at that establishment were happy to contribute the tabs from their beverages as well. Students, faculty, and staff members were very motivated to do this for the children and their families who depend on the Ronald McDonald House during their hospital stay.
Because pop tabs can be a costly item to store prior to being recycled, the Ronald McDonald House Charities recommends that those who wish to collect and donate tabs should first collect and store all tabs they intend to donate, and then bring the collected tabs to their local chapter. From there, the charity can take the tabs directly to the recycling center to be weighed. This helps save on the costs of things like storage space needed to store donated tabs, which allows more of the dollars received from the donations to go to the support efforts for families in need during their trying times.